Sciatica in Pregnancy
and Carola Felchner, science journalistMareike Müller is a freelance writer in the medical department and assistant doctor for neurosurgery in Düsseldorf. She studied human medicine in Magdeburg and gained a lot of practical medical experience during her stays abroad on four different continents.
More about the expertsCarola Felchner is a freelance writer in the medical department and a certified training and nutrition advisor. She worked for various specialist magazines and online portals before becoming a freelance journalist in 2015. Before starting her internship, she studied translation and interpreting in Kempten and Munich.
More about the experts All content is checked by medical journalists.Many women complain of sciatica during pregnancy. However, this is rarely true sciatica. Read here what causes deep back pain during pregnancy and what you can do about it!
ICD codes for this disease: ICD codes are internationally recognized codes for medical diagnoses. They can be found, for example, in doctor's letters or on certificates of incapacity for work. O99M54M51
Sciatica & Pregnancy
In almost every second pregnancy, women complain of deep back pain. True sciatica (colloquially called "sciatica") occurs in less than one percent of pregnancies. In most cases, the details of lower back pain in pregnant women remain unexplained. However, doctors suspect that various factors interact during pregnancy and can provoke pain in the sciatic area:
- pregnancy-related weight gain: it causes the body's center of gravity to shift forward. This puts more weight on the lower spine.
- Hormonal changes: Pregnancy hormones cause the ligament structures, especially in the lower back and pelvis, to loosen. That means a loss of stability in these regions. As a result, bones (for example at the sacroiliac joint) can move minimally. This can lead to reflex muscle tension.
- Vein congestion: When the child is lying down, the uterus presses more and more on the inferior vena cava with the growing child. This triggers a backlog of venous blood in the small pelvis. The pool of blood can press on the sciatic nerve.
- Pressure from the growing uterus on the tissue over the sciatic nerve
In addition, the sciatic nerve in the small pelvis can be strongly pressed or stretched during childbirth and cause discomfort as a result.
Sciatica & Pregnancy: Therapy
In general, the treating physician often recommends pain relievers for sciatica. During pregnancy, however, such drugs should not be taken or taken only to a limited extent in the interests of the child. Physiotherapy is therefore the better option during pregnancy:
Sciatica symptoms can often be relieved with muscle-relaxing measures such as massages or heat applications. Physiotherapy exercises are also useful. They train the strength of the muscles near the spine and thus relieve the lumbar spine in its holding work. In addition, a physiotherapist can teach pregnant women how to behave in a way that is gentle on their backs (for example when lifting loads).
Sometimes alternative methods, such as acupuncture, are used for sciatica during pregnancy. Interested women should discuss the use of such methods with an experienced doctor.
Sciatica & Pregnancy: Prevention
Women can prevent back pain even before pregnancy: Those who regularly exercise and train their core muscles are better equipped for the special orthopedic stresses of pregnancy. So if you are planning on getting pregnant, strengthen your muscle corset early on. This can prevent painful sciatica during pregnancy.
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