Upper back, neck and rib pain can occur in the early stages of the postnatal period and often linked to tension headaches.

Why does this occur?

  • Maintaining prolonged static positions when feeding/holding baby -Weakness of postural muscles
  • Weakness of ‘core’ or abdominal muscles
  • Awkward sleeping positions

What are the signs and symptoms?

  • Pain in neck region which may be one sided or in the middle
  • Stiffness in the neck or upper back region
  • Heaviness/ fatigue in neck region, feeling the need to support your neck -Headaches
  • Pain at any point around the ribcage which may be worse when lying on one side at night

What can be done to help me?

At Physiohealth Women’s we do a thorough postural assessment to determine the cause of your pain. In addition to hand-on treatment, we provide education about appropriate feeding/baby care positions to help relieve pain, home-based exercises to improve postural and core muscles and postural taping or devices to relieve pain and reinforce correct posture