During pregnancy, the ligaments in your body naturally become softer and stretch to prepare you for labour. This can put a strain on the joints of your lower back and pelvis, which can cause backache. Avoiding backache in pregnancy There are several things you can do to help prevent back pain from happening, and to help you cope with an aching back if it does occur. The tips listed here can help you to protect your back – try to remember them every day: avoid lifting heavy objects bend your knees and keep your back straight when lifting or picking up something from the floor move your feet when turning round to avoid twisting your spine wear flat shoes as these allow your weight to be evenly distributed work at a surface high enough to prevent you stooping try to balance the weight between two bags when carrying shopping sit with your back straight and well supported make sure you get enough rest, particularly later in pregnancy
A firm mattress can also help to prevent and relieve backache. If your mattress is too soft, put a piece of hardboard under it to make it firmer. Massage can also help. Exercises to ease backache in pregnancy The gentle exercise below helps to strengthen stomach (abdominal) muscles and this can ease backache in pregnancy: start in a box position (on all fours) with knees under hips, hands under shoulders, with fingers facing forwards and abdominals lifted to keep your back straight pull in your stomach muscles and raise your back up towards the ceiling, curling your trunk and allowing your head to relax gently forward – don't let your elbows lock hold for a few seconds then slowly return to the box position take care not to hollow your back – it should always return to a straight, neutral position do this slowly and rhythmically 10 times, making your muscles work hard and moving your back carefully only move your back as far as you can comfortably
The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) advises that exercising in water, massage therapy, and group or individual back care classes might help to ease back pain in pregnancy. Some local swimming pools provide aquanatal classes (gentle exercise classes in water, especially for pregnant women) with qualified instructors. Ask at your local leisure centre. Being in water will support your increasing weight. When to get help for backache in pregnancy If your backache is very painful, ask your doctor to refer you to an obstetric physiotherapist at your hospital. They can give you advice and may suggest some helpful exercises. Get tips on preventing back pain at work. Find out about more common problems in pregnancy, including pelvic joint pain. has interviews with women talking about their experiences of pelvic pain in pregnancy and how they coped. Find out why antenatal classes are important, what to do on labour day and more. Page last reviewed: 05/02/2015
Next review due: 31/08/2017If you’re constantly waking up with a stiff neck or a sharp pain from your neck all the way down to your spine when you turn or tilt your head, your problems could very well be caused by having a bad pillow. These problems are commonly shrugged off as being normal and are attributed to long working hours in front of the computer or shoulder tension from stress. While those are certainly contributing factors, the biggest cause of neck pain is almost always the pillow that you’re using. Simply put, if your neck and spine aren’t properly supported while you’re sleeping, neck pain and aches will inevitably follow. There really isn’t any “right” sleeping position that you must get accustomed to. Instead, you should really be looking for the right pillow for your sleeping style. Personally, after having experienced a variety of neck pains that come on and off constantly over the course of many years (almost as if they’re taking turns to annoy me), I tried changing my pillow upon the recommendation of a colleague.
In less than 1 week of using my new pillow (it was a memory foam pillow), the effects were obvious. I could turn and tilt my head forwards and to the sides a little more than usual before feeling the usual pain. I also felt significantly less pain when I let my head dangle forward on its own from where my neck connects to my shoulders. Within a month or so, I have also stopped experiencing this persistent problem whereby one side of my neck (left, right or the back depending on my sleeping position at night) would feel stiff when I woke up in the morning. After conducting a considerable amount of further research online, I’ve come up with a list of the top things to take into consideration when choosing the best pillow for neck pain: Your pillow should be wide enough to fit your head and neck. Many often rest only their head on the pillow, leaving a gap between the head and shoulders where the neck is exposed to air. It is important to keep your neck and shoulders warm to avoid neck ache and stiffness.
Try to avoid using two or more pillows. Using too many pillows will tilt your head forward causing strain on your neck. One pillow is enough if it’s the right one. Use a pillow which suits your sleeping position. If you are a side sleeper or if you sleep on your stomach, the pillow which you are using for your head and neck should be soft and relatively flat. This is to ensure that your neck isn’t tilted in an unnatural position when you sleep. Side sleepers should also use a firm body or knee pillow to ensure that your spine is maintained straight throughout the night. A body or knee pillow will prevent your knees from coming together and causing a strain on your spine. This will also avoid any strain on your neck since the spine is connected to the neck. Know the contents of your pillow. The different properties in your pillow have benefits that may or may not be useful to you. For instance, using a feather or down based pillow will not resolve your neck problems since they are generally soft and do not provide sufficient support in the first place.
If neck aches are your concern, then you should be using water-based or memory foam pillows. Most pillows have specific purposes. Your neck problems could get worse if you use the wrong type of pillow. You cannot use a pregnancy pillow and expect your neck pains to go away. If your pillow is flattened and cannot be inflated again, then it is time to change it. A flattened pillow will not provide the necessary support for your head and neck. If you feel lost in choosing the right pillow to fix those pesky neck problems, fret not. These are the 5 best pillows for neck pain that I’ve tried and tested over 2 years:- Get Up To 54% Off Sizes: King, Queen, Standard Cover: Rayon from bamboo velour Content: Gel dough memory foam Get Up To 72% Off By: Coop Home Goods Cover: 60% polyester, 40% bamboo Content: 100% U.S. made CertiPur-U.S. certified foam Get Up To 59% Off Cover: 43% vicose of bamboo, 56.4% polyester, 0.6% lycra Content: V.O.C. Biogreen memory foam, CertiPur-U.S. certified foam
Get Up To 42% Off Warranty: 15 years (upon request) Sizes: Contour, Standard, Gusseted Side Sleeper Content: Vico-elastic memory foam Get Up To 34% Off Cover: Polyester fibre, Thermal insulator Content: Ordinary tap water *Because of the constantly fluctuating prices, each item is represented with a differing amount of $ signs instead: $ = less than $50 | $$ = Between $50-60 | $$$ = Above $60 As you might have guessed from the chart above, memory foam pillows are the best choices for people with neck pain simply because they fit all of the criteria listed above to prevent such problems in the first place. The latest, and coincidentally, best pillow for neck pain that I’ve used thus far is the Snuggle-Pedic Bamboo Combination Shredded Style Memory Foam Pillow. I have been using this particular pillow for over 3 months now and I’m convinced that it’s the absolute best memory foam pillow I’ve used so far, though only beating the others by a small margin.
This was because my neck pain problems were almost completely diminished by the time I switched to this pillow (my 5th memory foam pillow) so it was harder to judge them properly. This Snuggle Pedic pillow isn’t exactly cheap (it was $70 when I bought mine), but it does come with a 90-day money back guarantee and a 20-year warranty so it is certainly a safe purchase. After all, if this doesn’t work well for your neck pain, you could always have it returned. Unlike most memory foam pillows that I’ve come across, I was pleasantly surprised to find that this pillow does not emit any chemical odor at all. The pillow itself is firm and dense enough to support my head and neck. It is also wide enough to fit both my head and neck, and it seems to have the perfect height to give me the right tilt that I need. This was especially important to me because I’m both a back and side sleeper. I usually fall asleep on my back but I occasionally wake up on my sides and this pillow is just the perfect fit for me since it’s suitable for both.