Effect of telephone-supported ergonomic education on pregnancy-related low back pain

ABSTRACT

This study investigated the effect of telephone-supported ergonomic education on pregnancy-related low back pain. This study was performed at Trakya University Hospital in Edirne, Turkey between December 15, 2016 and April 4, 2017. One hundred ten pregnant women were included in the study and randomly assigned to one of two groups. Sixty pregnant women received one face-to-face session of ergonomic education followed by three weekly sessions of telephone-supported ergonomic education (intervention group). Fifty pregnant women received only one session of standard face-to-face ergonomic education. Before and after the intervention, low back pain was evaluated using the Visual Analog Scale. Pain-related disability was evaluated with the Oswestry Disability Index, and health-related quality of life was evaluated with the SF-36. Telephone-supported ergonomic education was more effective than standard ergonomic education and can be used as an effective solution for pregnancy-related low back pain.

KEYWORDS:

• Disability
• low back pain
• pregnant women
• quality of life

Disclosure Statement

The authors report no conflicts of interest.

Ethical Approval

Trakya University Scientific Research Ethics Committee (TÜTF-BAEK 2016-280).

Additional information

Funding

The author(s) received no financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.