The therapeutic positional preferences of pregnant women

Abstract

The study sought to identify the therapeutic positional preferences held by pregnant women at different stages of their pregnancy. This was a longitudinal, observational study on 13 healthy pregnant women. Participants were assessed at 20–22 weeks gestation in a face-to-face session where anthropometric data was gathered. Participants were then placed in each of three treatment positions (side lying, quarter turn from prone and forward leaning sitting) typical of those used in physiotherapy management. The positions were presented to the participants in random order and they were asked to rank their least to most preferred positions. Participants verbally repeated the task of ranking their positional preferences by telephone interview at 26, 32 and 38 weeks of their pregnancy. Photographs of the three treatment options had been issued to the participants to serve as a prompt prior to the commencement of the interview sessions. The results showed that the positional preferences are distinct and varied throughout pregnancy, and that side lying was the most preferred  therapeutic position of the three options. Sitting was the second choice for most women and was increasingly favoured as pregnancy progressed. Pregnant women experiencing pain consistently preferred side lying over other positional options.