Is it normal to still have back and pelvic pain a few months after giving birth?

Some aching as your body reorganizes is common, but pain that sticks around, limits how you lift or carry your baby, or is getting worse deserves a proper look rather than a wait-and-see. Much of it is mechanical — a deconditioned deep core, one-sided carrying habits, and hours of hunched feeding — and it responds well to gentle hands-on care and gradual retraining. If the pain is severe, one-sided and sharp at the pubic bone or tailbone, or paired with any red flags, check in with your OB or physician first.

When should I see my OB or physician instead of a chiropractor?

Loop in your medical team for fever, heavy or foul-smelling bleeding, a headache that won't quit, calf pain or swelling, chest pain or shortness of breath, or any new numbness, tingling, or weakness in the legs. Those need medical evaluation, not an adjustment. Chiropractic care complements your postpartum medical follow-up — it never replaces it — and we're glad to coordinate.

How is a pelvic-floor physical therapist different from what you do?

A pelvic-floor PT does specialized internal and external assessment and treatment of the pelvic-floor muscles — important for leaking, heaviness, painful intimacy, or a floor that won't relax or coordinate. We focus on the joints, movement, and the whole deep-core canister from the outside, plus practical baby-handling mechanics. The two dovetail beautifully, and we refer to and co-manage with pelvic-floor PTs often.

Is it too late to start if I'm already six months postpartum?

It's not too late. The tissues and habits that drive postpartum back and pelvic pain are trainable well beyond the early weeks, and many people we see are months or even a year-plus out. We simply meet you where your recovery actually is and build from there, at a pace that respects sleep loss and a busy schedule.

Case Studies 7 min read August 18, 2026

Case Study: Postpartum Low-Back and Pelvic Pain in a New Mom

A composite case showing how we assess and treat the low-back and pelvic pain that comes with the all-day demands of caring for a new baby.

Dr. Hailey Andersen

DC · Founder, The Spine Studio

Everything below is a composite — an illustrative case built from the presentations we see most often in new parents across St. Charles County. It is not a specific patient and contains no protected health information. The point is to show how we actually think through a case like this. The timeline describes a typical trajectory; postpartum recovery is gradual, and results vary from person to person.

The presentation

Picture a new mom about four months postpartum. The birth went fine, her OB cleared her at the six-week check, and on paper she’s doing well. But her low back aches by mid-morning, there’s a deep, nagging soreness across the back of her pelvis, and some days a sharp catch on one side when she twists to lift the baby out of the crib.

When we walk through a normal day, the pattern is obvious. She hoists a heavy infant car seat in and out of the car with one arm, elbow flared, spine rounded and rotated. She feeds for long stretches hunched over, shoulders curled forward, holding still. And she carries the baby on the same hip nearly every time — the hip juts out, the low back side-bends to prop the weight, and that posture gets repeated hundreds of times a week.

None of this is a failing. It’s what caring for a baby physically demands. The problem is that pregnancy stretched and quieted the deep core, and now those all-day, one-sided loads are landing on a system that hasn’t been re-coordinated yet.

What the gentle exam found

The assessment is unhurried and respectful. We ask about the birth, the recovery so far, sleep, feeding, and whether she’s noticed any leaking, heaviness, or pain with intimacy — not to pry, but because those clues tell us whether the pelvic floor needs a dedicated specialist on the team.

Then we look at how the body actually works right now:

Breathing and the deep-core canister. The diaphragm on top, the pelvic floor on the bottom, and the deep abdominal and back muscles around the sides are meant to work as one pressure system (the “canister”). Postpartum, that coordination is often scrambled — shallow chest breathing, a belly that pushes out instead of gently tensioning, a pelvic floor that’s either overheld or asleep.
Pelvis and SI mechanics. We check how the pelvic joints and the sacroiliac (SI) joints share load and move, since months of hormonal laxity and one-sided carrying can leave one side stiff and the other cranky.
The one-sided load. We watch her stand, hip-hinge, and pick up a weighted “baby” the way she really does it, and the habitual side-bend and rotation show up plainly.
Screening for anything that isn’t mechanical. We rule out red flags — no night pain at rest, no fever, no leg numbness or weakness — before treating anything as a movement problem.

The picture that emerges is mechanical and very workable: a deconditioned, poorly coordinated deep core plus repetitive one-sided loading, showing up as low-back and pelvic pain. Nothing here needs to be feared. It needs to be retrained.

The core isn’t weak on purpose — it’s just off the clock

Pregnancy turns the deep core’s volume down. Recovery isn’t about crunching it back; it’s about teaching the breath, floor, and deep abdominals to fire together again under real baby-handling loads.

The plan

Care here is gentle by design and built in layers.

Hands-on care to restore motion. Light, well-tolerated adjustments and soft-tissue work to the stiff SI and pelvic joints and the tight low-back and hip muscles ease the guarding and give her room to move. Nothing forceful, and always at a level that feels safe postpartum.

Breath-and-brace and deep-core retraining. This is the heart of it. We start with relaxed 360-degree breathing to reconnect the diaphragm and pelvic floor, then layer in a gentle brace so the canister holds pressure when she lifts. This is the same deep-core foundation we describe in our guide to rebuilding the pelvic floor and core after birth.

Corrective exercise that progresses with her. From there we build strength through a corrective-exercise program — hip hinges, glute and side-body work to fix that one-hip habit, and carries loaded on both sides. It grows as her tolerance grows, never faster. You can see the broader rehab approach on our rehab chiropractic page, and we’ll often share simple postpartum recovery exercises to do at home between visits.

Practical baby-handling ergonomics. Often the fastest relief comes from changing the reps, not just building the muscle: hinge at the hips and keep the car seat close instead of reaching over the car door; set the baby up higher and stack pillows so feeding doesn’t mean hunching; and consciously alternate the carrying hip. Sleep matters too — when she’s grabbing rest in odd positions, our notes on sleeping positions that protect the back take some load off an already tired spine.

When to loop in your OB or a pelvic-floor PT

Good care knows its lane. If there’s leaking, a feeling of heaviness or pressure “down there,” painful intimacy, or a pelvic floor that won’t relax, we bring in a pelvic-floor physical therapist to co-manage — that specialized internal work is theirs, and it pairs perfectly with what we do from the outside. And anything medical — fever, heavy or unusual bleeding, a persistent bad headache, calf pain or swelling, chest pain, or new leg numbness or weakness — goes straight to her OB or physician. Chiropractic complements that team; it never replaces it.

How recovery typically goes

Here’s an honest arc, not a promise. In the first couple of weeks, the hands-on care and a few ergonomic tweaks usually take the sharp edge off — the daily catch settles and the worst of the ache eases. Over the next month or two, as the breath-and-brace pattern becomes automatic and the deep core strengthens, the background soreness fades and lifting the car seat stops being a gamble.

Building genuine, lasting capacity — a body that shrugs off a full day of carrying — typically takes a few months of consistent, progressive work, layered onto the body’s own postpartum healing timeline. Some people move faster; some, especially with significant abdominal separation, a stubborn pelvic floor, or a rough recovery, need longer or a referral to round out the team. That’s normal, and it’s not a setback.

Postpartum recovery isn’t a switch you flip — it’s a capacity you rebuild, one honest week at a time.

Keeping it from coming back

The fix holds when the habits do. For most new parents, that comes down to a short, repeatable set of anchors:

Keep the deep core online. A few minutes of breath-and-brace and a couple of key strength moves most days beats a long workout you never get to.
Hinge and hold things close. Bend at the hips for the car seat, the crib, and the laundry basket, and keep the load near your body instead of reaching.
Switch sides on purpose. Alternate the carrying hip and the feeding position so no single tissue takes the whole day’s load.
Set the environment up for you. Raise the changing table, prop the feeding pillows, and lower the crib mattress so good mechanics are the easy option.
Progress as you recover. Add load and reps gradually as strength returns — and check back in if a flare doesn’t settle within a week or two.

Done consistently, these keep the low back and pelvis quiet through the very demands that stirred them up in the first place.

POSTPARTUM CARE · COTTLEVILLE

If postpartum back or pelvic pain is making the everyday work of caring for your baby harder, let’s build you a plan that respects where your recovery actually is.

Book your 40-min assessment — $149

Frequently asked questions

Is it normal to still have back and pelvic pain a few months after giving birth?: Some aching as your body reorganizes is common, but pain that sticks around, limits how you lift or carry your baby, or is getting worse deserves a proper look rather than a wait-and-see. Much of it is mechanical — a deconditioned deep core, one-sided carrying habits, and hours of hunched feeding — and it responds well to gentle hands-on care and gradual retraining. If the pain is severe, one-sided and sharp at the pubic bone or tailbone, or paired with any red flags, check in with your OB or physician first.
When should I see my OB or physician instead of a chiropractor?: Loop in your medical team for fever, heavy or foul-smelling bleeding, a headache that won't quit, calf pain or swelling, chest pain or shortness of breath, or any new numbness, tingling, or weakness in the legs. Those need medical evaluation, not an adjustment. Chiropractic care complements your postpartum medical follow-up — it never replaces it — and we're glad to coordinate.
How is a pelvic-floor physical therapist different from what you do?: A pelvic-floor PT does specialized internal and external assessment and treatment of the pelvic-floor muscles — important for leaking, heaviness, painful intimacy, or a floor that won't relax or coordinate. We focus on the joints, movement, and the whole deep-core canister from the outside, plus practical baby-handling mechanics. The two dovetail beautifully, and we refer to and co-manage with pelvic-floor PTs often.
Is it too late to start if I'm already six months postpartum?: It's not too late. The tissues and habits that drive postpartum back and pelvic pain are trainable well beyond the early weeks, and many people we see are months or even a year-plus out. We simply meet you where your recovery actually is and build from there, at a pace that respects sleep loss and a busy schedule.