Efeitos das técnicas de mobilização articular na lombalgia gestacional: análise sobre a dor, flexibilidade e incapacidade funcional

Abstract

Introduction: Pregnancy has a profound effect on the pregnant woman's body, and from the second trimester of pregnancy, the overload on the muscles and ligaments of the spine is even more intense. Manual physiotherapy and, in this context, the Mulligan and Maitland concepts, aims to correct, alleviate and recover musculoskeletal injuries and organ dysfunctions. Objective: To describe the effects of joint mobilization techniques applied to the lumbar spine on pain, disability and flexibility in pregnant women with low back pain. Methodology: A quasi-experimental and quantitative study, carried out with 21 pregnant women. Participants were submitted to the Visual Analog Scale to obtain pain intensity; Fleximeter to check lumbar flexibility and; to the Oswestry Disability Index in order to assess lumbar functional disability. The intervention consisted of one session, with the participants being evaluated before, after the intervention and 7 days after the intervention. In the statistical analysis, a significance level of 5% (p<0,05) was adopted. Results: Joint mobilization techniques showed a positive immediate/acute effect on pain (p<0,001), on lumbar spine flexibility (p<0,001) and on the functional capacity of the lumbar spine of these pregnant women (p<0,001), with maintenance of results after 7 days, confirming the chronic effect. Conclusion: We found that the application of the joint mobilization protocol provided significant improvement in all the analyzed variables with maintenance of improvement after 7 days of intervention. Such findings suggest the importance and necessity of including these techniques in the treatment plan for gestational low back pain.