Factors that can cause pregnant and postnatal women to experience pain in their joints that form the pelvic girdle (PGP) have just been identified and published in a new study in PAIN.

Health issues tend to occur among women who decide to go back to work after the birth of their first child – the most common one being pain in the pelvic girdle. Women with diabetes are also susceptible to pelvic girdle pain.

According to lead investigator of the study, Mireille N.M. van Poppel, EMGO Institute for Health and Care Research, VU University Medical Centre, Amsterdam:

“It is important to identify predictors for postpartum PGP (pelvic girdle pain), because physicians, obstetricians, midwives, and employers could use them to identify women at risk for PGP and develop and implement preventive measures.

These professionals can also give extra guidance aimed at the prevention of PGP during pregnancy or in the early postpartum period to women at risk for developing postpartum PGP.”

The study involved giving surveys to 548 pregnant employees in 15 companies who worked more than 12 hours per week during pregnancy and planned on returning to work after their maternity leave. The surveys were administered three times, the first during their 30th week of pregnancy and then in their 6th week postpartum and 12th week postpartum. They were asked questions concerned with work, pregnancy, psychosocial factors, fatigue, demographics, delivery-rate, and their pelvic-girdle.

Results showed that:

  • 73 percent of women experienced PGP in their 30th week of pregnancy
  • 48 percent experienced PGP during their first 6 weeks postpartum
  • 43 percent did between weeks 6 and 12 postpartum.

The researchers were able to develop models for pregnancy related predictors and pregnancy and postpartum related predictors.

The pregnancy model indicators of PGP at 12 weeks after birth:

  • history of low back pain
  • high somatization (the conversion of anxiety into physical symptoms)
  • uncomfortable positions at work
  • sleeping more than 8 hours a day

The pregnancy and postpartum predictors of PGP:

  • increasing disability
  • higher mean pain at 6 weeks
  • higher somatization during pregnancy and at 6 weeks after delivery
  • number of days of bed rest (the more days the less risk of PGP)
  • high birth weight of the baby

Van Poppel concludes:

“More somatization, more hours of sleep or rest, and no days of bed rest after delivery were found to be related to an increased risk of PGP, and those are new findings. While somatization is also a predictor of chronic low back pain and irritable bowel syndrome, it has not been previously reported as a predictor of PGP. One explanation might be that women who have PGP probably have a higher awareness of their bodily sensations. Alternatively, women who have mental problems might somatize and report PGP as a result.”

Written by Joseph Nordqvist