Effectiveness of physical therapy for pregnancy-related low back and/or pelvic pain after delivery: a systematic review.

The aim of this work was to investigate the effectiveness of physical therapy for the treatment of low back pain (LBP) and pelvic girdle pain (PGP) related to pregnancy after delivery. A systematic review of studies published since 1985 in the databases Medline, PEDro, SciELO, SCOPUS, LILACS, and the Cochrane Library was made. Studies that focused on postpartum LBP or PGP, without being related to pregnancy or in other non-pregnant patients, were excluded, as were papers addressing LBP or PGP indicating radiculopathy, rheumatism, or any other serious disease or pathologic condition.

The immediate effects of atlanto-occipital joint manipulation and suboccipital muscle inhibition technique on active mouth opening and pressure pain sensitivity over latent myofascial trigger points in the masticatory muscles.

Design: A randomized controlled trial.

Objective: To investigate the immediate effects on pressure pain thresholds over latent trigger points (TrPs) in the masseter and temporalis muscles and active mouth opening following atlanto-occipital joint thrust manipulation or a soft tissue manual intervention targeted to the suboccipital muscles.

Background: Previous studies have described hypoalgesic effects of neck manipulative interventions over TrPs in the cervical musculature.