Pregnancy is associated with many physiological/biomechanical changes, which lead to various types of musculoskeletal problems, Such as pelvic girdle pain. Pregnancy-related pelvic girdle pain (PPGP) along with low back pain is very common and compromises normal everyday life of pregnant women. The pain may have an adverse impact on quality of life for women who are affected. The following are the research hypothesis
- There would be no statistically significant difference in level of activity of those with pelvic girdle pain and without pelvic girdle pain.
- There would be no significant differences in activity limitations among pregnant women across the trimesters.   
-There would be no significant differences in activity limitations among pregnant women across the trimesters with positive pelvic provocative test.
-There would be no significant differences in activity limitations among pregnant women across categories of parity.
This study was aimed to find out the prevalence PPGP and the activity limitations associated with PPGP.

A total of 313 participants were recruited in this cross-sectional survey using purposive sampling technique. The participants were recruited at Aminu Kano Teaching Hospital Kano, Murtala Muhammad Specialist Hospital Kano (MMSH), Abdullahi Wase Specialist Hospital (Nasarawa) Kano, Nuhu Bamalli Maternity Hospital, and Jakara Maternity Hospital. Ethical approval for the study was obtained Aminu Kano teaching hospital (AKTH), research ethics committee and Kano State Hospitals Management Board ethics committee prior to the commencement of the study. The data on PPGP, activity limitations and pain intensity was assessed using Posterior pelvic pain provocation test (P4-Test), Pelvic Girdle Questionnaire (PGQ) and numeric pain rating scale (NPRS) respectively. Descriptive statistics of frequency, percentages, mean and standard deviations were used to summarize the data. Independent T-test was used to compute differences in activity limitations between those with and without PPGP, and ANOVA was used to compute differences between PPGP and activity limitations across different trimesters. The data were analyzed using SPSS version 20, at Alpha level p<0.05.

313 pregnant women that participated in this study, majority were within the age range of 21-30years, while 31-40years age range had the least participation. Hausa women were the majority of the participants, followed by Fulani tribe. One hundred and fifty-five of the participants are in third trimester while 33.5% and 16.9% are in first and second trimesters respectively. Larger proportion of the pregnant women have had 1-5 deliveries, while those pregnant with >10 deliveries were the fewer. The prevalence was 44.9% of pelvic pain.

One hundred and forty-two (44.9%) pregnant women had positive P4-test which indicated they have pelvic pain. The mean (SD) score of the severity of the PPGP as measured with NPRS is 3.8(1.7). There was a significant difference in the level of activity of those with pelvic girdle pain and those without pelvic girdle pain (p= .00). There was no significant difference in activity limitation at different trimesters irrespective of pelvic girdle status, (p=0.108). There was no significant difference in activity limitation across parity, (p=0.242).

The prevalence of Pelvic Girdle Pain was found to be moderate among pregnant women. Pregnant women with pelvic girdle pain were found to be more limited in activity limitation than those without pelvic girdle pain; thus it is advocated that physiotherapists and obstetricians caring for such pregnant women need to collaborate further in order to enhance pain relief in these women

Pregnancy
Pelvic girdle pain
activity limitations