Comparison of the incidence of postpartum low back pain in natural childbirth and cesarean section with spinal anesthesia.

BACKGROUND: Many parturients and their obstetricians believe that spinal anesthesia will cause low back pain (LBP). MATERIALS & METHODS: We studied prospectively a total of 160 parturients; 80 of them had cesarean section (CS) with spinal anesthesia and another 80 who had natural childbirth. Incidence of LBP was investigated and compared in these patients before pregnancy, during pregnancy and postpartum. RESULTS: Our result showed that before pregnancy, about one third (33.1%) of the parturients already had LBP and the incidence of LBP seemed to increase during pregnancy. The incidence of LBP decreased gradually postpartum. There was no difference in the incidence of postpartum LBP between the CS with spinal anesthesia group and the natural childbirth group. CONCLUSIONS: We concluded that postpartum LBP could be related to changes during pregnancy and not related to spinal anesthesia.