| INTRODUCTION: Low back pain during pregnancy is the primary predictor and highest risk factor for the development of chronic low back pain among women. While preliminary studies have identified provocative tests correlative to pregnancy-related pain, little has been determined that will help guide the clinician to reduce or treat low back pain accompanying pregnancy. Low back muscle endurance has been clearly linked to patients suffering with chronic low back pain and to its recurrence. No tests exist for evaluating low back strength or function in pregnancy. METHODS: This study was reviewed and approved by the IRB of Logan College of Chiropractic. Eight asymptomatic women were recruited from two private obstetric practices. They performed endurance holding tests for spinal extension, flexion and side bridge holding. RESULTS: The subjects showed no inability to perform the tests and reported no pain during or following the tests. When compared to data on healthy, non-pregnant females, all of the tests had significantly lower times (p<0.001). DISCUSSION: All of the post-partum women tested in our study were capable of completing the low back endurance tests. This suggests that these quantifiable and reliable tests are feasible for the post-partum population and can be used in future clinical trials to assess function and low back stability. The endurance tests in the current study could provide valuable quantitative and objective assessments to support current self-report evaluations. The results of this pilot can be expanded to more thoroughly evaluate the mechanisms responsible for LBP in pregnancy. CONCLUSION: This pilot study demonstrated the feasibility of using specific low back endurance tests to evaluate post-partum women. This abstract is reproduced with the permission of the publisher. |
