Lower back pain in the second and third trimesters

Your growing uterus and baby certainly start putting a strain on your body from the second trimester onwards, and lower back pain is a common manifestation of this. Your ever-expanding belly literally changes the center of gravity in your body, and your baby bump causes your muscles to work harder to perform simple, day-to-day tasks like walking and bending. Your joints also have more pressure to endure as your body grows.

On top of the extra stress on your muscles and joints, hormonal changes also play a major part in lower back pain in the second and third trimesters of pregnancy. As your body prepares for childbirth, the ligaments and joints surrounding the pelvic opening loosen up.

It is just as well that this happens, as it enables your baby to move through the birth canal! But the negative side effect is that you can increase lower back pain. You are more likely to get back pain if you are carrying twins, if you already have a history of back pain, or if you were obese or physically not very active before pregnancy. But anyone can get back pain.

As many as 75 percent of all expecting mothers get backaches so if you have it too, you are definitely not on your own. That probably doesn't help you any, though. Is there anything you can do to get relief from lower back pain? Exercising might be counter intuitive when you are hurting, but gentle work out regimes like swimming or prenatal yoga can do your back the world of good. Making sure that your posture is good, and you don't bend in ways that put even more stress on your back, can also help. A massage is always wonderful, and regular visits to a massage therapist can really help you get through those final weeks of pregnancy!