Impact of postpartum lumbopelvic pain on disability, pain intensity, health-related quality of life, activity level, kinesiophobia, and depressive symptoms
- 1 July 2010
- journal article
- research article
- Published by Springer Science and Business Media LLC in European Spine Journal
- Vol. 20 (3), 440-448
- https://doi.org/10.1007/s00586-010-1487-6
Abstract
The majority of women recover from pregnancy-related lumbopelvic pain within 3 months of delivery. Since biomechanical and hormonal changes from pregnancy are largely reversed by 3 months postpartum, consequently, it is assumed that other factors might interfere with recovery. Relative to the fear-avoidance model and with reference to previous studies, we chose to investigate some pre-decided factors to understand persistent lumbopelvic pain. The evaluation of lumbopelvic pain postpartum is mostly based on self-administered questionnaires or interviews. Clinical classification of the lumbopelvic pain may increase our knowledge about postpartum subgroups. Two hundred and seventy-two consecutively registered pregnant women evaluated at 3 months postpartum, answered questionnaires concerning disability (Oswestry disability index), pain intensity on visual analog scale, health-related quality of life (HRQL, EQ5D), activity level, depressive symptoms (Edinburgh postnatal Depression Scale) and kinesiophobia (Tampa Scale for Kinesiophobia). Women were classified into lumbopelvic pain subgroups according to mechanical assessment of the lumbar spine, pelvic pain provocation tests, standard history, and pain drawings. Multiple linear regression analysis was performed to explain the variance of disability. Thirty-three percent of postpartum women were classified with lumbopelvic pain; 40% reported moderate to severe disability. The impacts were similar among subgroups. Pain intensity, HRQL and kinesiophobia explained 53% of postpartum disability due to lumbopelvic pain. In conclusion, one of three postpartum women still had some lumbopelvic pain and the impacts were equivalent irrespective of symptoms in lumbar or pelvic areas. The additional explanations of variance in disability by HRQL and kinesiophobia were minor, suggesting that pain intensity was the major contributing factor.Keywords
This publication has 34 references indexed in Scilit:
- Long-term effectiveness and costs of a brief self-management intervention in women with pregnancy-related low back pain after deliveryBMC Pregnancy and Childbirth, 2008
- Predicting Persistent Pregnancy-Related Low Back PainSpine, 2008
- Pelvic Girdle Pain and Lumbar Pain in Pregnancy: A Cohort Study of the Consequences in Terms of Health and FunctioningSpine, 2006
- Does it Matter Which Exercise?Spine, 2004
- Lumbar back and posterior pelvic pain during pregnancy: a 3-year follow-upEuropean Spine Journal, 2001
- EQ-SD: a measure of health status from the EuroQol GroupAnnals of Medicine, 2001
- Increase in Sick Leave Rates Caused by Back Pain Among Pregnant Swedish Women After Amelioration of Social BenefitsSpine, 1998
- Understanding Peripartum Pelvic PainSpine, 1996
- Detection of Postnatal DepressionThe British Journal of Psychiatry, 1987
- Physical Activity and Muscle Training in the ElderlyActa Medica Scandinavica, 1986