The impact of body mass on spine alterations in pregnant women: A preliminary study

Abstract

BACKGROUND:

Weight gain is the most significant change during pregnancy. The lack of consensus among scientists as far as significant spine alterations are concerned requires basic knowledge to be increased.

OBJECTIVE:

The aim of the paper is to determine changes in spine parameters occurring during pregnancy accompanying the increasing body gain.

METHODS:

Twelve pregnant women were included in this study. Winspine Pointer, a three-dimensional motion analysis system, was applied for the tests. The output measurements were: pelvic torsion, pelvic obliquity, pelvic/shoulder obliquity, thoracic kyphosis angle, lumbar lordosis angle, and sacral angle. The correlation between the BMI index and the spine parameters was investigated using Spearman’s correlation coefficient.

RESULTS:

Differences between women in the 2nd and 3rd trimester of pregnancy were found for thoracic kyphosis angle and lumbar lordosis angle ( $P<$ 0.05). A statistically significant relationship was revealed between the BMI and the thoracic kyphosis in the 3rd trimester of pregnancy (R $=$ 0.50, $p=$ 0.005). With the increase of the BMI, the measured parameter also increased.

CONCLUSIONS:

Understanding the changes in spine parameters during pregnancy is important as far as prevention and treatment are concerned.