Telerehabilitation for persistent Pelvic Girdle Pain within a biopsychosocial framework - A case report

ABSTRACT

Background

Persistent pregnancy-related pelvic girdle pain (PGP) and the resulting consequences may considerably influence a woman’s quality of life. The complexity of this condition requires a whole-person centered approach. In response to COVID-19 outbreak, telerehabilitation has emerged as a promising alternative to traditional in-person visits.

Purpose

The aim of this report was to present the potential of telerehabilitation for persistent postpartum PGP within the biopsychosocial framework.

Case Description

A 26-year-old female presented with persistent pregnancy-related PGP of 8 months duration after her first vaginal delivery. The video-consults were performed using telerehabilitation platform. The patient received six telerehabilitation consults of 45 min duration over five weeks. Assessment of physical and psychosocial factors, cognitively focused strategies including pain neurophysiology education, sensory-motor remapping exercises, and graded increase of activity were administered. Rehabilitation was divided into the following phases: assessment, desensitization, graded exposure, and supported independence.

Outcomes

The Pelvic Girdle Questionnaire (PGQ) score was significantly reduced from 72.2 during the assessment to 15.3 at discharge. This change was significantly more substantial than the minimal clinically important change estimated for the PGQ.

Conclusion

Physiotherapists can utilize telerehabilitation to assist them with enacting appropriate care measures for persistent PGP within a biopsychosocial framework.

KEYWORDS:

• Pelvic girdle pain
• postpartum period
• telerehabilitation

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

The author(s) reported there is no funding associated with the work featured in this article.