Effects of Rehabilitation Interventions on Pain and Functional Outcomes in Pregnancy-Related Lumbopelvic Pain: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis of Randomized Controlled Trials.

Authors

Hala Mesbah Alruwaili

Published in

Orthopedic reviews. Volume 18. Pages 163929. Epub Jul 10, 2026.

Abstract

Pregnancy related lumbopelvic pain is a major source of pain related disability during pregnancy, yet the therapeutic effectiveness of structured rehabilitation interventions in symptomatic populations remains incompletely defined.
A systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials was conducted in accordance with PRISMA 2020. PubMed, Scopus, and Web of Science were searched from inception through March 2026. Eligible studies included women with clinically relevant pregnancy related lumbopelvic pain receiving structured rehabilitation interventions. Primary outcomes were post intervention pain intensity and functional disability. Random effects meta-analysis using standardized mean differences with 95% confidence intervals was performed where appropriate.
Ten randomized controlled trials were included in the qualitative synthesis. Four studies contributed to the pooled pain analysis, demonstrating significant improvement with rehabilitation compared with comparator conditions (SMD, -0.73; 95% CI, -0.99 to -0.46; I²=38.7%). Four studies contributed to the functional disability analysis, which also favored rehabilitation (SMD, -0.52; 95% CI, -0.92 to -0.13), although heterogeneity was substantial (I²=75.9%). Secondary outcomes including symptom prevalence, work absenteeism, health related quality of life, and postpartum recovery showed inconsistent findings.
Rehabilitation based interventions are associated with significant improvements in pain intensity and functional disability in women with pregnancy related lumbopelvic pain, with more consistent effects observed for pain outcomes. However, interpretation should remain cautious given heterogeneity, limited pooled evidence, and overall methodological constraints.

PMID:
42438693
Bibliographic data and abstract were imported from PubMed on 13 Jul 2026.

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