The association between selected characteristics and low back pain in pregnant women

Żaneta Ciosek, Mateusz Kowalski, Iwona Rotter

Abstract


Pregnancy is a highly taxing period for a woman’s body, associated with a number of psychological, anatomical, hormonal, and biomechanical changes that significantly affect her well-being and functioning in everyday life. One of the common afflictions significantly reducing the quality of life in pregnancy is low back pain (LBP), located in the area between the last pairs of ribs and the gluteal folds. The aim of the study was to evaluate the influence of selected factors on the occurrence of LBP in pregnant women. The study included 100 pregnant women, whose mean age was 29.29 ±4.96 years. It was carried out on the basis of our original questionnaire, a standardized questionnaire (the Revised Oswestry Disability Index) that assesses disability as a result of pain complaints, and a standardized numerical rating scale (NRS) for pain. The survey was made available in an online version on social networks. Analysis of the obtained survey results was carried out using R software. Statistical analyses began by assessing the normality of the data distribution, which was carried out using the Anderson–Darling (AD) test. To calculate statistical significance for quantitative data with a distribution deviating from normal, the Mann–Whitney U-test was used. To assess the significance of qualitative data, the statistical Fisher test was used. The threshold for statistical significance was p < 0.05. The study showed that the place of residence, age, education, occupational activity, trimester of pregnancy, and the woman’s body mass index (BMI) before pregnancy did not affect the occurrence of LBP during pregnancy. Statistical analysis indicated that pregnancy affects the occurrence of LBP in women who previously did not experience this type of pain. In addition, it was indicated that there was a significant correlation between the subjective assessment of pain and the degree of disability. The largest percentage of pregnant women experienced moderate (38%) and low (35%) disability.

Keywords


spine; pain; risk factors; pregnancy

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References


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DOI: https://doi.org/10.21164/pomjlifesci.1155

Copyright (c) 2025 Żaneta Ciosek, Mateusz Kowalski, Iwona Rotter

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