Pregnancy pillow/Back pain prevention possibilities…
Question:
<<<<Todd, I found this post much easier to follow that most
of your previous ones.<<<< http://www.remarq.com/read/14325/q_H9Pp6tDRSUC_BBG#LR Thank you for this remark. Please remember my priority: Ending bizarre routine obstetric practices. See Jon Brooks, MD/An obstetric emergency/An elusive-obvious… <<<<I’m at a desk all day and have actually heard my pelvis
pop (like cracking knuckles in hands) at times when I get up…I’ll definitely see if getting up and moving/massaging on a regular basis will help.<<<< I’m not sure that getting up and moving/massaging with stop your pelvis from popping; though it might well prevent some back pain. Make sure and get your health professional’s OK before following any of my suggestions. If your health professional doesn’t give his or her OK, I would like to know about it – and why. I can’t imagine that he or she would object to getting up and moving/massaging – but do check. Regarding massage, remember also the "musculovenous pump"… When we sit, blood pools in the veins of the lower extremity. When we walk, our calf muscles contract and squeeze venous blood back toward the heart – so walking is important. I routinely lie down for awhile at lunch. This too is good for circulation. <<<<Thank you for the insight. I’ll TRY to remember to let
you know if it helps (I’m pregnant – memory isn’t real good these days <g).<<<< Again, Susan, do check with your health professional before following any of my suggestions; and remember also: it is valuable to report when suggestions don’t seem to have helped. I wish you the best in your birth. Todd * Sent from RemarQ http://www.remarq.com The Internet’s Discussion Network * The fastest and easiest way to search and participate in Usenet – Free!
Response:
Todd, I found this post much easier to follow that most of your previous ones. I’m at a desk all day and have actually heard my pelvis pop (like cracking knuckles in hands) at times when I get up. I’ll definitely see if getting up and moving/massaging on a regular basis will help. Thank you for the insight. I’ll TRY to remember to let you know if it helps (I’m pregnant – memory isn’t real good these days <g). susan
– Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – Attention women experiencing back pain during pregnancy: You might want to try a specially shaped pillow which fits under the woman’s abdomen (Ozzlo pillow)… See the Young G, Jewell D [2000] PubMed abstract at the end of this post. I have never seen this pillow; though I likely used something similar while in spinal adjusting practice. Ask your health professional. Though of course I am biased, I recommend spinal adjusting. While still in spinal adjusting practice – I loved to adjust pregnant patients! They are easy to adjust (see relaxin mentioned below); and they are generally quite grateful afterwards. I hasten to add: Some women did NOT improve under my care – but the majority did – and they obtained immediate relief. Most took my advice to come in monthly. Some came to me more frequently, when they had symptoms. Note also: Their results might have been "merely" the placebo effect. Whatever caused such immediate relief of their back pain; I have been thinking about these ladies ever since leaving spinal adjusting practice. Many *might* be able to PREVENT back pain during pregnancy… I’ve no scientific studies – just the following hypothesis… HYPOTHESIS: Avoiding prolonged chair-dwelling/staying off the sacrum BEFORE delivery may prevent/lessen back pain during pregnancy… The hormone relaxin loosens ligaments and allows the female pelvis to open at delivery… In some women, it is hypothesized, relaxin REALLY loosens the ligaments – allows them to be REALLY strained/damaged during delivery – causing severe peripartum pelvic pain… I am thinking that similar ligament strain/damage might be occurring DURING pregnancy as a consequence of sitting on the sacrum in chairs for prolonged periods… BTW, it is quite easy not to sit on the sacrum while sitting on a chair… One can slide one’s buttocks all the way to the back of the chair and either lean forward – or one can "sit up straight"… I personally tend to lean forward because it’s closer to what most humans on the planet do; plus, "sitting up straight" pinches posterior disc quadrants and it’s the posterior disc quadrants which degenerate most often. Also, I try to take 3 minute gluteal self massage/stretching breaks every 15 minutes. I take such breaks because according to Guyton’s Textbook of Medical Physiology, we shift unconsiously in our chairs because of chronic imminent gluteal tissue death which will otherwise occur after we have been sitting on our gluteal tissues for 20 or 30 minutes. BTW, even though the periodic gluteal self massage I do is done through clothing, it looks funny, so if your health professional OKs it – do it in private – or inform before you perform. Otherwise – depending on gender – you’ll frighten (or amuse) your co-workers… DISCUSSION Mens et al. [1996] hypothesized that pelvic pain following birth is caused in part by strain of ligaments in the pelvis and lower spine resulting from birth position. [Mens JMA, Vleeming A, Stoeckart R, Stam HJ, Snijders CJ. Understanding peripartum pelvic pain: implications of a patient survey. Spine 1996;21(11):1363-70.] Bj
