There’s nothing like a sore back to ruin an evening of love-making.
A recent study at the University of Waterloo took a closer look at how sexual activity can exacerbate lower back pain.
According to the university’s press release, 10 different couples were studied engaging in five common sex positions while electromagnetic and infrared motion capture systems similar to those used in video game creation were used to track their spine movements.
The findings of the study have been released in a paper in the medical journal Spine.
Natalie Sidorkewicz, a PhD candidate and lead author of the paper, said their findings have helped make a set of guidelines to help people with lower back pain find the sex positions best suited to them.
She said the best option for those suffering from lower back pain is to reduce spine movement during sex.
“A perfect example of this would be one of the positions that we studied, missionary, where the man is controlling the movement with pelvic thrusting,” Sidorkewicz said.
“We’re suggesting he use more hip and knees rather than spine . . . the woman’s lying on her back so we’re suggesting back support placed underneath the natural curve of her spine to make a more neutral posture,” she said.
“Based on our own biomechanical rationale, we added in doggy-style,” she added.
“I had a theory that it probably would be the position where movement could be altered easiest to spare the spine [and] the female would be in the more spine neutral position.”
Sidorkewicz said future research will be more female focused and may also include same-sex couples.
She said she thinks a study like this is long overdue.
According to a Statistics Canada study cited in the press release, an episode of disabling low back pain will strike four out of every five people.
Before this study was conducted, doctors were recommending a side-lying or spooning position to patients with low back pain as a “one size fits all” solution, but Sidorkewicz said the recommendation had no scientific evidence to back it up.
Sidorkewicz said survey studies done on clinicians showed “very low comfort levels with discussing issues such as these with back and hip patients.”
Second-year Carleton student Charlotte Langevin said she’s seen this low comfort level first-hand in the doctor’s office. Langevin said her doctor seemed critical of her sex life, and if she had problems with lower back pain and sex, she would hesitate to bring it up with a physician.
“My doctor didn’t really listen to my needs,” she said.
Sidorkewicz said this lack of dialogue is part of the reason why no one has done a biomechanical study like this before. If the study results in a more open discussion between doctors, patients and couples about their sex lives, they will have achieved their goals on yet another level, she said.
Alaina Woolfrey, a fourth-year Carleton student and president of the Carleton Health Care Society, said in an email “sex has become a topic that individuals seem to be developing a greater comfort level in discussing on a general basis.”
However, she added “discussing deficiencies or health issues that may create difficulties in having a healthy sexual partnership can be an area difficult by some to broach.”
“Personally, I feel the onus should largely be on the health care professional to ask a greater diversity of questions,” she said.
“Since health is not limited solely to physiology, broadening the scope of concern for a patient’s well being to include such areas of sexual abilities and happiness is just pushing the health care system into the future,” Woolfrey said.
