RT Journal Article SR Electronic T1 Exercise for the prevention and treatment of low back, pelvic girdle and lumbopelvic pain during pregnancy: a systematic review and meta-analysis JF British Journal of Sports Medicine JO Br J Sports Med FD BMJ Publishing Group Ltd and British Association of Sport and Exercise Medicine SP 90 OP 98 DO 10.1136/bjsports-2018-099400 VO 53 IS 2 A1 Margie H Davenport A1 Andree-Anne Marchand A1 Michelle F Mottola A1 Veronica J Poitras A1 Casey E Gray A1 Alejandra Jaramillo Garcia A1 Nick Barrowman A1 Frances Sobierajski A1 Marina James A1 Victoria L Meah A1 Rachel J Skow A1 Laurel Riske A1 Megan Nuspl A1 Taniya S Nagpal A1 Anne Courbalay A1 Linda G Slater A1 Kristi B Adamo A1 Gregory A Davies A1 Ruben Barakat A1 Stephanie-May Ruchat YR 2019 UL http://bjsm.bmj.com/content/53/2/90.abstract AB Objective The purpose of this review was to investigate the relationship between prenatal exercise, and low back (LBP), pelvic girdle (PGP) and lumbopelvic (LBPP) pain.Design Systematic review with random effects meta-analysis and meta-regression.Data sources Online databases were searched up to 6 January 2017.Study eligibility criteria Studies of all designs were eligible (except case studies and reviews) if they were published in English, Spanish or French, and contained information on the population (pregnant women without contraindication to exercise), intervention (subjective or objective measures of frequency, intensity, duration, volume or type of exercise, alone [“exercise-only”] or in combination with other intervention components [eg, dietary; “exercise + co-intervention”]), comparator (no exercise or different frequency, intensity, duration, volume and type of exercise) and outcome (prevalence and symptom severity of LBP, PGP and LBPP).Results The analyses included data from 32 studies (n=52 297 pregnant women). ‘Very low’ to ‘moderate’ quality evidence from 13 randomised controlled trials (RCTs) showed prenatal exercise did not reduce the odds of suffering from LBP, PGP and LBPP either in pregnancy or the postpartum period. However, ‘very low’ to ‘moderate’ quality evidence from 15 RCTs identified lower pain severity during pregnancy and the early postpartum period in women who exercised during pregnancy (standardised mean difference −1.03, 95% CI −1.58, –0.48) compared with those who did not exercise. These findings were supported by ‘very low’ quality evidence from other study designs.Conclusion Compared with not exercising, prenatal exercise decreased the severity of LBP, PGP or LBPP during and following pregnancy but did not decrease the odds of any of these conditions at any time point.