Case history: adaptations for pregnancy
Martha is a 33-year-old Georgia policewoman. She began to have lower back pain, radiating into the left thigh, five weeks into a pregnancy, and she knew of no reason for the symptoms. She had the pain while standing and sitting. She saw a doctor 18 weeks into the pregnancy and was told, correctly, that she had a herniated nucleus pulposus.
She tried Exercise 4, Extension in Standing, but it had no effect. Her pregnancy did not permit her to do Exercise 3, Extension in Lying. But a McKenzie-credentialed physical therapist told her she could get most of the benefits of Exercise 3 by adapting it to her pregnancy. He had her stand about two feet from a wall and place her forearms against it. He then had her let her lower back sag as in Exercise 3. After she had done this just 15 times in a single session, her symptoms stopped. Immediately after the exercise, the symptoms were still gone.
The pain would come back from time to time, but doing the adapted Exercise 3 at home helped. A lumbar roll made it possible for her to sit with better posture and less pain.
The same therapist adapted Exercise 5, Flexion in Lying, for use during Martha’s pregnancy. Instead of Martha pulling both legs to her chest, the therapist instructed her to pull back one leg at a time. This caused her no pain, and the exercise helped in her recovery.
Throughout the remainder of her pregnancy she was able to keep her symptoms under control, primarily through use of the adapted version of Exercise 3.
