Associations of physical activity and weight gain during pregnancy with pregnancy-related pelvic girdle pain intensity – A retrospective cohort study

The aims of this study were first, to explore pain trajectories of pelvic girdle pain, and second, to explore if weight gain during pregnancy and/or physical activity before and during pregnancy were associated with the severity of pelvic girdle pain. The study included data from a retrospective cohort study in 2009, with data collection performed via questionnaires. Group-based trajectory modelling was performed on the reported intensity of pelvic girdle pain in each pregnancy month, and associations between the latent classes and physical activity and/or weight gain were assessed. A total of 569 women were included in the analyses. Five distinct trajectory classes for the course of pelvic girdle pain were identified. A higher body mass index (BMI) increase during pregnancy was negatively associated with the probability of being pain free, with –3.2 percentage points per unit increase in BMI (95 % CI −5.3 to −1.1; p = 0.003), and positively associated with the probability of experiencing early onset moderate to severe pain, +1.1 percentage points per unit increase in BMI (95 % CI 0.2 to 2.1; p = 0.022). Weight gain below recommendations was negatively associated with early onset moderate to severe pain; –10.6 percentage points per unit increase in BMI (95 % CI −18.8 to -2.4; p = 0.011). Physical activity in pregnancy was not significantly associated with pain trajectory classes when adjusting for pre-pregnancy variables. Our findings suggest that pelvic girdle pain intensity during pregnancy can take multiple courses and is associated with weight gain during pregnancy.