Yesterday we evaluated 3 new pregnant patients. All with different complaints: severe low back pain at 38 weeks, unrelenting rib pain at 20 weeks, and coccyx pain at 39 weeks. These are all common complaints with pregnancy and easily treated once a good biomechanical evaluation has been done. The patient with severe low back pain had an L5 (lumbar vertebrae #5) misalignment and severe quadratus lumborum ( a deep low back muscle) spasms. She was 50% improved after her first session. The patient with rib pain had a dysfunctional breathing pattern, restriction of her respiratory diaphragm mobility and pain/spasm along her lower intercostal muscles. With manual therapies and re-education of diaphragmatic breathing she also improved quite a bit in her first session. And our patient with coccyx pain had a positive coccyx flexion test indicating she had true coccyx dysfunction and after manual therapies to release tightness around her coccyx and external manual coccyx mobilizations she was 80% improved. If you are suffering with pain during your pregnancy, physical therapy can truly help.
