Low back and pelvic pain in pregnant women is often considered a ‘normal’ part of the pregnancy. However, the high prevalence of this problem (50-80% of women) and the impact that this may have on their quality of life, as well as the fact that back pain during pregnancy is commonly linked to low back pain persisting after pregnancy, indicates that it should be taken seriously by health care practitioners. The treatment of pregnancy-related low back pain has often been a ‘watch and wait’ approach, as medication use in pregnancy is strongly discouraged in many cases. Evidence indicates that chiropractic interventions with standard obstetric care for low back and pelvic pain in mid pregnancy benefits patients more than standard obstetric care alone. Furthermore, a recent cohort study of 115 pregnant patients with low back or pelvic pain receiving chiropractic care found that 52% of patients ‘improved’ at 1 week, 70% at 1 month, 85% at 3 months, 90% at 6 months and 88% at 1 year. Therefore, most pregnant patients undergoing chiropractic treatment reported clinically relevant improvement at all time points.
