Back pain is a common complaint for women during pregnancy, pain may present in the lower back, in the sacroiliac joint (where the spine and pelvis meet), or pubic symphysis (where the front two halves of your pelvic meet).

During pregnancy your body produces a hormone called relaxin, which causes the ligaments holding the joints in your spine and pelvis together to loosen. This creates room for your growing baby, and prepares you for the birth process, but it also results in instability of your joints, which may cause pain.

As your baby grows you will gain weight will is added load for your spine and pelvis. In addition to this, your centre of gravity shifts which may alter your normal posture.

With the change of centre of gravity and especially during stressful times in your pregnancy you may also experience increased muscle tension and spasm.

Your PhysioPro will assess and diagnose the source of your back or pelvic pain. Treatment may involve massage, joint mobilization, taping or bracing, and heat or ice therapy. Your PhysioPro will also educate you on how best to manage your pain at home, improve your posture, and may prescribe exercises to strengthen and stabilize.

During pregnancy as your baby grows and uterus expands the two parallel sheets of muscle in your abdomen (rectus abdominis, your six pack muscles) may separate down the centre seam (the linea alba).

This condition is known as rectus diastasis and can contribute to back and pelvic pain during and after your pregnancy. In this state your abdominal muscles are unable to provide the required stability to your trunk and pelvis. There is also a strong correlation between rectus diastasis and incontinence.

Your PhysioPro will assess your abdominal muscles for signs of rectus diastasis by sight, palpation and specific diastasis stress tests.

Many women commence exercises such as sit ups after delivery in an attempt to strengthen and tone their abdominal muscles. However these exercises are a poor way of improving abdominal muscle function after pregnancy and often further compromise the rectus diastasis.

Your PhysioPro will teach you how to safely activate your abdominal muscles – often with Pilates type exercises – to help prevent a diastasis forming, or to optimize tension across the linea alba and narrow your diastasis to a normal width.

Please let our receptionist know if you have rectus diastasis at the time of booking.

Your “core” is made up of three main muscle groups

Transverse abdominis – your deepest abdominal muscle, provides a “corset” of support

Pelvic floor – sits like a hammock within your pelvis, control bladder and bowel function, as well as stabilizing the lower back and pelvis

Multifidis – short muscles spanning from the transverse process (at the side) of one vertebra to the spinous process (in the centre) of the vertebra above, produce small “fine-tuning” postural movements throughout the day

At PhysioPro we will assess your core muscle function using palpation and functional tests, educate you on how to better activate your core muscle groups, and prescribe specific (often Pilates-based) exercises to improve your core strength and endurance.

You may benefit from core muscle strengthening or retraining if:

• you have experienced episodes of back pain
• you notice a reduction or plateauing of your sporting performance
• you have poor balance or difficulty with activities of daily living
• you struggle to maintain good poor posture throughout the day
• you want to prevent incontinence of bladder and/or bowel

Mastitis is when a milk duct becomes blocked and results in cellulitis of the surrounding breast tissue. Part of the breast becomes inflamed, red, swollen, hard and very painful.

Mastitis can be contributed to by:

• Trauma to the breast
• Damaged nipples
• Poor attachment, positioning or sucking of baby
• Incomplete draining of the breast
• Abrupt weaning or unresolved engorgement
• Restrictive bra or clothing

Anti-biotic treatment should be commenced immediately when signs of mastitis appear, it is often necessary to test the breast milk to determine which specific anti-biotic is appropriate.

Management may also include anti-inflammatory or pain relieving medication.

Your PhysioPro can provide education on effective feeding practices, and relaxation techniques to aid the “let down” reflex. Your PhysioPro will also use massage and ultrasound treatment to help reduce the inflammation and pain, and unblock the milk duct.

Please let our receptionist know if you have mastitis at the time of booking.

TENS (Transcutaneous Electrical Nerve Stimulation) can be a great way to control pain and it  is non-invasive and drug-free which makes it helpful during labour. It is run with a battery and electrodes which makes it transportable and easy to apply. It distributes a mild current which gives you a tingling sensation where it is applied. The intensity can be adjusted depending on the intensity of the pain and the threshold of the patient. It doesn’t have any harmful affects on the mother or the baby however it is advised not to use it before 37 weeks pregnancy. You can still move with the TENS on and you can put it on at home before you attend hospital and whilst in hospital it can be used in conjunction with other pain relief.

TENS works by blocking or short circuiting the pain messages as they travel from the site of pain to the brain. Research has also shown that it can boost  production of endorphins which can help pain control.

It is important with all pain to control it before it controls you. It is therefore best to use early in labour. It is also recommended to use it in conjunction with other pain relieving strategies and not to have it as your only strategy.

To apply you place the electrodes on either side of the spine in the lower back and then incrementally turn up the intensity on the spine as the labour pains progress. It is however advisable to book in with your PhysioPro for a demonstration.

There are some considerations of using TENS. It shouldn’t be used as your only strategy but as a piece of the birth plan puzzle. It shouldn’t be used in or near water nor if you have metal implants from a prevous fracture or a pacemaker. The eletrodes should aways be zeroed before you switch it on and the skin should be alcohol swabbed and a trial should be done pre application to make sure there are no allergic reactions.

Please book in with your PhysioPro today for your demonstration.