Back Pain After Epidural

There are several reasons why a woman experiences back pain after giving birth to their child but the most common factor is the strain that is put on their back when their uterus is stretched and it weakens their abdominal muscles and their posture gets altered. During and, as well as, after the delivery of the child, extra stresses are put on the joints of the woman. Apart from that, severe hormonal changes take place in the body of the pregnant woman and it sometimes loosens the joints as well as ligaments.

Apart from that, it is mostly seen that the new moms mainly experience the pain on their back not only due to the effect of epidural pain relief⁽¹⁾, but also due to their posture especially while sleeping or breastfeeding their children. Another reason for the back pain can be the trauma to the back muscles as well as ligaments at the time when the epidural needle is inserted at the catheter site.

It is very common to have some kind of back pain after giving birth to the child with epidural pain relief.⁽²⁾ However, what the mother can do is that they can take some kind of precautionary measures so that they feel less back pain after giving birth to their child even with epidural pain relief. The following are some precautionary methods that the pregnant woman should take for reducing the back pain at the time of delivery or also after that:

• It is very essential to ensure that the posture of the pregnant woman is correct both during working as well as while sleeping.
• It is very important that the work surface for the mother is at the correct height especially at the time when it is required to change the nappies of the baby so that she can easily avoid stooping.
• The pregnant woman should always avoid wearing high heels and they should also sit in such a chair that has good back support.
• It is also vital to tighten the abdominal and pelvic floor muscles of the pregnant woman whenever they try to change their position or when they try to perform any activities.
• Whenever the pregnant woman gets out of the bed it is very important that she bends her knee or roll over on the side for getting out of the bed and she should keep her knees together while rolling over.
• The pregnant women should avoid exercise and avoid lifting heavyweight as far as possible so that they do not hurt their back. If it becomes absolutely necessary to lift heavy weigh then it is very important that they lift the weight in the right technique.

It is seen that most of the time labor epidural causes chronic back pain in a woman after the delivery of the baby. However, that back pain after the delivery of the baby is mainly attributed to a pre-existing backache. That is why the new moms should be very careful about her posture not only after the delivery of the baby but also before that. This can resolve the back pain of the new mom to a great extent. However, if the back pain persists for more than 6 weeks then you may require a physiotherapist who is specialized in women’s health.

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