Affiliations: Department of Automatic Control And Robotics, Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, Bialystok University of Technology, Bialystok, Poland
Correspondence:
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Corresponding author: Jolanta Pauk, Department of Automatic Control And Robotics, Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, Bialystok University of Technology, Wiejska 45C, 15-351 Bialystok, Poland. Tel.: +48 510 034 086; Fax: +48 85 7469210; E-mail: j.pauk@pb.edu.pl.
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.
