Common musculoskeletal impairments in postpartum runners: an international Delphi study.
Shefali M Christopher, Alessandra N Garcia, Suzanne J Snodgrass and 1 others
PMID 33117595WHAT IT FOUND
Experts agreed postpartum runners with pain commonly show abdominal, hip, and pelvic floor weakness, plus tight hip flexors.
Risk factors include muscle imbalance, poor control, and returning to running too soon. This is expert opinion on what to check, not proof these causes pain.
Key findings
01Experts reached consensus that abdominal weakness, hip abductor weakness, hip extensor weakness, pelvic floor weakness, and hip rotator weakness are common strength impairments in postpartum runners with pain.
02Experts identified muscle imbalance, poor lumbopelvic control, hip weakness, and returning to running too much too soon as the most agreed-upon risk factors for pain in this group.
03Experts agreed that tight hip flexors and laxity in the abdominal wall are common flexibility impairments, while hip extension restriction is a common range of motion impairment.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for PTsWhat it means for OTs
Read the rest of this summary
You get three full summaries a month, free, and we do not ask for a card. Search, the TL;DRs and your library stay unlimited either way.
What it does not show
This is a Delphi study, which summarizes expert opinion. It does not measure patients, so it cannot confirm that the identified impairments actually cause pain or that treating them helps. Experts did not define how they measure terms like 'anterior pelvic tilt' or 'hip weakness,' so the specific clinical tests implied by the consensus are unclear. The respondent group was heavily skewed toward US-based clinicians with sports or women's health specialties, which may not reflect the broader population of therapists. Many risk factors identified, such as 'too much too soon,' are descriptive phrases rather than standardized clinical variables.
Declared interests
The text does not report any funding sources or conflicts of interest declarations.
The easy way to misread this
Do not treat this list of impairments as a validated diagnostic tool or a proven cause of pain. These are the opinions of 41 experts on what they see in clinic, not evidence from a study of patients that these specific weaknesses caused the runners' pain.