Everyone knows that changes occur when you’re pregnant. Hormones change, you might feel nauseous, you might feel exhausted, or you might even start to feel some increased pain in your joints. Your stomach is growing and pulling your spine into more of a lordosis than it is used to, and it might even be throwing you off balance a little.

How could this be different with NPS?

Well, in regard to the medical aspect of NPS, you must consider a few things. Having NPS puts you at a risk of having issues with your kidneys. It is very important to monitor for any proteinuria that may signify some sort of nephropathy (fancy word for kidney issues). As in any pregnancy, proteins in the urine will increase, but with NPS, there is a chance of already having an elevated number prior to the pregnancy.

While in many cases the proteinuria is benign, keeping an eye on this can help physicians to notice if there are any other symptoms that may suggest some sort of pre-existing kidney condition. If you do feel uncertain about your symptoms in any way, please contact your physician to determine the best treatment.

So why am I talking about kidneys so much? I’m a physical therapist, not a nephrologist after all. Well, you see, sometimes when people have an infection in their kidneys, they may have a specific referral pattern for their pain.

This referral pattern can be in your low back region, maybe even a little in the abdominals and sides of your body, or even into your groin area and the front of your legs potentially. Crazy, right? All of these referral spots are similar to places that a pregnant woman may feel pain due to loosening ligaments. So which one is it? Back and hip pain from the increased laxity of your ligaments or kidney pain? This is very important to discuss with your physician before continuing on with physical therapy and exercises.

Now, besides the loosening of the ligaments, the major cause for back pain is due to your growing stomach pulling your back into a more curved position. The larger area in front of your body pulls your center of gravity more forward and can throw you off balance a little. If you remember reading the general clinical presentation of NPS, you may remember that many people already face hyperlordosis in the lumbar region. Pulling you even further forward can increase this and place someone with NPS at a higher risk for low back pain, or even further injury such as a spondylolisthesis (a break in your vertebra). This is very important to consider when participating in exercises and other activities as some activities may be contraindicated.

Here’s a video to understand the general background about back pain, pregnancy, and nail patella syndrome.. and how they all come together.

This being said, if it truly is just back and hip pain (very common and very likely), I have a few exercises for you here! Again, these are very general and each exercise program truly should be better adapted to your body and your pregnancy. But this can be a good place to start.

As always, remember to get checked out to better adapt and enhance your exercise program if you feel you need more assistance. This is very general and it is best to have someone view your functional impairments in person so that you can have the best treatment program for you!

Hope this helps!

Stay tuned for the next blog… and be sure to check out my blog on NPS and Knee Pain , NPS – General Presentation, and NPS and Pediatrics (Part 1) if you haven’t already!

Until next time,

Jen