Pregnancy and Postpartum Back Pain

Back pain during pregnancy (and actually in general)  is CRAZY common. I don’t really know the hard, fast stats, but I know that most of the moms I work with and chat with have experienced back pain at some point during their pregnancies or postpartum. In this blog I’m going to chat about why back pain can be so common during pregnancy and give you 3 things you can do for relief, but first you know I have a story for you…

During my late pregnancy with Avery, my now 6 year old, I was a full-time college student. Being the crazy, and often overachieving, person I am, I enrolled in an advanced anatomy class the semester she was to be born. On one of the first days of class, my anatomy professor was talking about the spine. While covering the lumbar vertebrae (the part of the spine that curves in right above your tailbone), she glanced at me and said “Fun fact, the lumbar vertebrae get larger during pregnancy to support the added weight.”  

Fun fact, indeed. It’s moments like these that I look back on as the building blocks of my career as a prenatal and postnatal fitness specialist and birth doula. 

The spine does in fact change a lot during pregnancy, as does your posture and the way you distribute your weight during standing, sitting, everyday tasks, and, you’ve guessed it, exercise. As pregnancy progresses, the lumbar curve increases and we often compensate by shifting our posture, pelvic position, and rib cage trajectory. 

Now, these aren’t bad things inherently. I hear a lot of people say that they developed “terrible posture” in pregnancy that stuck around postpartum and this is the root of their pain. Maybe that’s true, maybe it’s not. I’ve heard it said by someone about my posture in pregnancy and postpartum. But, here’s the funny thing about that: I only experienced back pain for like a week during all of my pregnancies. The first because I stood for 8+ hours dissecting. The second because I did a set of dead lifts that was a bit too heavy for that particular stage in my pregnancy. 

Shifts in posture to what may be considered “bad” or “wrong” don’t exactly mean that you will for certain have back pain and don’t necessarily explain the pain in a lot of cases, BUT it’s something to look at and tweak if necessary. 

For example, a “butt tuck” and/or a “rib flare” is something I commonly see during pregnancy. A former client and friend of mine and I were chatting about this one day, she so aptly described it “leading with your vag first”, which I laughed about for a good 10 minutes. As we adapt to the demands of a larger belly and a shifted center of gravity, what tends to happen is that the pelvis and rib cage shift positions to balance the center of gravity. Check out the photos below for examples of these positions.

These positions often stick around postpartum, as we spent many months in them. Then you add constant carrying, rocking, holding, feeding, and caring for a newborn on top of it… and you’ve got a recipe for a pretty sore and achy body. 

Now these positions are all fine and good, nothing to be to crazy concerned over, but if back pain has come as a result of that it may be time to try something different. Many people find that adopting a “ribs over hips” alignment during exercise and daily life is helpful in easing back pain, among other things. Of course, the body is anything but “one-size-fits-all” so I always prompt clients to take a look at what their “norm” is and adjust to simply something different. If this is a rib flare, pull the ribcage down. If it’s a butt tuck, untuck. My goal is not to change everything all at once because it’s just too much to think about all the time. Also, a simple shift can often be SUPER helpful in easing pain. 

Alright, now that I’ve talked about all the logistics let’s chat about other things you can do to ease back pain during pregnancy and into postpartum, and beyond. 

Glute Exercises

This is a really common theme in all my blogs, isn’t it? I think I recommend glute exercises for like 80% of things, ha! Anyway. Glute exercises and keeping the lower body and backside strong during pregnancy and into new motherhood can be a game changer. The glutes do a ton- they help with stabilization of the pelvis, internal and external rotation, and some extension at the knee. So basically, the glutes are pretty freaking important. Glute exercises can also help a ton with back pain, matching the changes of the pelvis with strengthening the muscles surrounding it is a good idea for sure. Also, they’re kinda cute and the most fun muscles to work (because I can literally program an entire glute workout in which all exercises are done lying down. Now that’s my jam!)

Sitting on a birth Ball/Pillow/Boppy

Back pain can often hit after sitting for long bouts of time. During pregnancy, you can get up and walk around every once in a while or you can manage this by choosing things to sit ON that offer more support and different pelvic positions. A birth ball or pillow can help offer you that support. A ball also allows you to open up the pelvis a bit and take a little pressure off the perineum/pelvic floor. 

In the postpartum period, long bouts of sitting is pretty unavoidable. A pillow can be super helpful to sit on, but so can a boppy! If you aren’t using it, the Boppy can position your pelvis a little differently. 

Other than using something as a sitting prop, channeling your inner child while sitting can be helpful as well. Lots of moving around and sitting in different positions to change it up can give your posture and back a break during long bouts of sitting. 

Picking up things/kids using a different strategy

If your back pain is flaring from long days of picking things up and putting them down again, using different strategies can be so helpful to manage that. Check out the video below for a few different ways you can pick things up! 

Another strategy to deal with back pain is to strengthen the back muscles! This article by Sports Domain Lab has some great back strengthening exercises that just require dumbbells. Check it out here.

Yes, back pain during pregnancy, postpartum, and beyond is common, but that doesn’t mean it has to be normal for you. Finding different ways to move and focusing on strength training can help so much when dealing with this common issue. 

Back pain during pregnancy is common, sure, but that doesn’t mean you have to live with it. There are plenty of ways to keep you more comfortable during pregnancy and reduce pain after birth as well. Check out my Instagram page below for tips and info.

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