Multidisciplinary management of musculoskeletal pain during pregnancy: A review of literature

Abstract

Introduction: Women may have higher prevalence of musculoskeletal chronic pain than men. Some studies suggest that biomechanical changes during pregnancy are related to elevated chronic pain prevalence. Objectives: The objective of this study is to conduct a review of studies involving strategies in multidisciplinary rehabilitation for musculoskeletal pain management during the pregnancy and the postpartum period. Methodology: The elaboration of the scientific question considered pregnant patients (population), rehabilitation with multidisciplinary team (intervention), without any comparatives, and pain management in any region of the body (outcome). The research was conducted in the databases: Medline (via PubMed) - www.pubmed.com and EMBASE - www.embase.com. Results: A total of 972 articles were found. Only two articles were related to rehabilitation with a multidisciplinary team for the management of pain in pregnant women. These articles were selected based on their relevance and data update. Conclusion: Although the literature has well established the cost-effectiveness of using multidisciplinary strategies for chronic pain control and intervention in its factors, there are no well-defined protocols for the application of these strategies in pregnant women, as shown by the scarcity of studies found on the subject in the bibliographic survey to perform this review. This reinforces the need for further studies with objective assessment parameters that analyze the effectiveness of multidisciplinary approach to musculoskeletal pain control and prevention of chronicity in pregnant women.

Keywords

• chronic pain
• exercise
• pregnancy
• pregnancy outcome
• rehabilitation