Health

Pregnancy and back pain: is it a fatality?

Pregnancy changes your body in many ways and brings you all kinds of discomforts such as back pain. There is a solution: get a massage!

You are pregnant and everything goes perfectly… You are overjoyed and you can’t wait to see what your little one will look like. But everywhere around you, women who have been there warn you “your back will hurt, it’s terrible!” and they all have stories to tell about that.

The facts

Many pregnant women suffer from back pain during pregnancy, especially in the lumbar area, also known as the lower back. It’s normal.

The explanation is very simple, your body is not used to the extra weight brought by pregnancy. Also, the pelvis works very hard during this period and opens more and more as weeks go by.

Lower back pain appears after the 6th month and its intensity varies with the number of pregnancies, the age of the future mom and the weight gain.

The main cause is lordosis, which is a deeper hollow in the lower back caused by the position of the baby that forces the mother to compensate by adopting a different posture. It causes an overload on lumbar discs and creates pains that can vary from “merely annoying” to “unbearable”.

Also, a hormonal phenomenon causes a tension in the pelvis ligaments to open the pelvis and facilitate labor. Those ligaments are only moving a few millimeters but it is enough to cause pain.

Don’t worry, for that kind of specific problem, there is a solution! Therapeutic massages can significantly reduce the pain through gentle and local maneuvers. When it becomes impossible to lie on your front, a massage chair can be used and it is very effective. A good follow-up will allow you to enjoy pregnancy until the end…

But remember to seek a professional specialist who has received adequate training.

Happy New Year and enjoy your massage!

Rachel et Hervé Senzeo
Massage therapists

Rachel and Hervé are massage therapists who graduated from the Kiné-concept Institute of Montreal (KCI) in kinetic Swedish massage. They are specialized in massage for pregnant women, chair massage, members of the F.Q.M, Founders of Senzeo massotherapie where they welcome you in the ideal environment to relax. Senzeo massotherapie 6571, Molson Street, Montreal. Phone: 514-764-4255 info@senzeomassotherapie.com.


This week
Keeping active during pregnancy

Exercising is good for your body and soul, at all times. It is even more important if you are pregnant and want to be in tip-top shape during your pregnancy.

The lonely side of pregnancy: Low sex drive and its potential effects on your relationship

Pregnancy is supposed to be one of the happiest times in yours and your partner’s life. Here’s how to keep it that way when your sex drive takes a hit.

Creating consequences, hard but necessary!

Enforcing rules is by far one of the hardest things we do as parents, especially with teens. 

Placental retention: when the placenta does not come out

Usually, a few minutes after the expulsion of the baby, the placenta comes out spontaneously. Sometimes, the placenta or a piece of it stays inside the uterus. This is called placental retention. How can you recognize this and fix it?