Abstract

AbstractObjective: To determine the intensity of Lumbopelvic pain and its relationship with cardio-respiratory fitness, physical activity, and quality of life in pregnant females.
Methodology: This analytical cross-sectional survey was conducted in the hospitals of Rawalpindi and Mirpur, Azad Kashmir from August 2023 to January 2024. Total of 300 pregnant females in second and third trimester with lumbopelvic pain were selected through non-probability convenient sampling technique. First trimester pregnant women, females with pre-pregnancy back pain and complications such as pregnancy induced hypertension, persistent bleeding, gestational diabetes, or cardiorespiratory disorders were excluded from the study. A self-structured demographics questionnaire, Numeric Pain Rating Scale, Pregnancy Physical Activity Questionnaire and Quality of Life-GRAV were used. For the assessment of cardio-respiratory fitness, 6 MWT was used.
Results: Mean age and BMI of participants were 24.75±2.89 years and 26.16±3.10 (kg/m2). Out of 300 participants, 180 (60%) reported mild lumbopelvic pain. About 118 (39.9%) participants belonged to the category of light physical activity followed by moderate physical activity category. Lumbopelvic pain had a weak significant correlation with physical activity (p<0.01) and quality of life (p=0.015), whereas non-significant correlation with cardio-respiratory fitness was found through Pearson correlation test.
Conclusion: Physical activity and quality of life had weak significant correlation with lumbopelvic pain. However, cardiorespiratory fitness showed no significant correlation with lumbopelvic pain in the second and third trimester of pregnancy.Key words: Cardiorespiratory fitness, lumbopelvic pain, physical activity, pregnancy, quality of life.