Association of Biomechanical Changes and Weight Gain Throughout Pregnancy

Completed

Conditions studied: Low Back Pain, Pregnancy

In brief

Low back and posterior pelvic pain are common in pregnant females. Previous studies have demonstrated disability and it is estimated that all women experience some degree of musculoskeletal discomfort during pregnancy. Borg-Stein et. al. found 25% of pregnant females have temporarily disabling symptoms. There is demonstrated controversy over the mechanism of low back pain in pregnancy. The biomechanical theory implies that the enlarging uterus causes the maternal center of gravity to move anteriorly causing stress on the low back. Jensen et. al. demonstrated that weight gain correlated with biomechanical changes. The changes were measured by weight gain in segmental regions of the body and in principal moments of inertia from the sit to stand movement. Literature does not demonstrate a specific correlation between weight gain and the biomechanical changes of sway rate, lumbosacral angle and center of gravity. These three measurements may have a correlating effect on the underlying cause of low back pain in pregnant women. This study aims to determine the correlation between weight gain of pregnant females and the biomechanical changes of sway rate, lumbosacral angle and center of gravity. The change in weight over the last two trimesters will be correlated with the sway rate, lumbosacral angle and center of gravity. The degree of symptomatic low back pain as measured by the Oswestry Low Back Pain Scale will also be correlated with the sway rate, lumbosacral angle and center of gravity.

Key facts

Study ID

NCT01315860

Run by

Nova Southeastern University

People needed

28

Starts

2011-03-01

Expected to finish

2012-06-01

Last updated by the study team

2012-06-19

Who can join

Age: 18 and older, up to 40. Sex: female. Healthy volunteers: accepted.

You may qualify if…

• Pregnant patients in their second or third trimester who are patients at NSU Ob/Gyn clinic or prenatal yoga students at Red Pearl Yoga Studio who are willing to participate in the study and follow up with measurements for three months.

You may not qualify if…

• Exclusion criteria include women who have a BMI of over 30 or whom are clinically obese.
• Abdominal obesity can cause low back pain and it increases the lumbosacral angle.
• Women will be excluded who have prior history of back surgery, acute disc herniation, arthritis, immunological disorder, acute fracture and osteoporosis.
• Additional exclusion criteria include high risk pregnancies such as gestational diabetes, preeclampsia, placenta previa and abruptio placentae.
• All of the following could be contributory for low back pain and may affect the biomechanics of the low back.
• If the patients at the NSU clinic have these exclusion criteria documented in their medical chart, they will not be approached for recruitment in the study. During the verbal pre-screening, the research assistant will ask the subject if they have any of the above conditions. If so, they will not be eligible to participate in the study. The same verbal pre-screening will be used at the yoga studio for recruitment. No data will be collected for subjects who are excluded during the pre-screening.

Where it is running

• Red Pearl Yoga Studio — Fort Lauderdale, Florida, United States
• Nova Southeastern University Ob/Gyn Clinic — Fort Lauderdale, Florida, United States

Full record on ClinicalTrials.gov

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