title: Pregnancy related pelvic girdle pain and low back pain in an Iranian population.
abstract: METHODS
  A cross-sectional study in pregnancy.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  To differentiate between pregnancy related pelvic girdle pain (PGP) and low back pain (LBP) in Iranian women, and investigate the prevalence of each syndrome.
  
  
  BACKGROUND
  Most of the information about PGP and LBP has been obtained in Western countries. There are few studies to investigate pregnancy related lumbopelvic pain, and, especially, differentiate between PGP and LBP in non-Western countries, particularly in the Middle East.
  
  
  METHODS
  This study included 325 pregnant women, ranging in age from 16 to 42 years. All pregnant women were interviewed using a questionnaire. Two trained physical therapists performed the posterior pelvic pain provocation test on all women with lumbopelvic pain.
  
  
  RESULTS
  A total of 161 pregnant women (49.5%) had reported lumbopelvic pain at the time of the examination. Based on the posterior pelvic pain provocation test, 91 women (28%) had PGP, 43 (13.2%) had LBP, and 27 (8.3%) had both PGP and LBP simultaneously. The intensity of pain in women with lumbopelvic pain using the visual analog scale was 5.6 (standard deviation 2.0; range 2-10).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  About 1 in every 2 pregnant women studied experienced lumbopelvic pain at the time of the examination. In this study, PGP was almost 2 times more common than LBP. The high prevalence of PGP suggests that this symptom is a significant health problem in Iranian pregnant women, and needs more attention by Iranian health professionals and researchers.
authors.affiliation: Department of Physical Therapy, Faculty of Rehabilitation Sciences, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran. jmousavi@razi.tums.ac.ir
authors.forename: Sayed Javad
authors.initials: SJ
authors.lastname: Mousavi
authors.forename: Mohamad
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Parnianpour
authors.forename: Andry
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Vleeming
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007492:Iran / Q000453:epidemiology; D017116:Low Back Pain / Q000150:complications / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000503:physiopathology; D010147:Pain Measurement; D017699:Pelvic Pain / Q000150:complications / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000503:physiopathology; D011247:Pregnancy; D011248:Pregnancy Complications / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000503:physiopathology