Musculoskeletal morbidity among women in the immediate postpartum period at Teaching Hospital, Peradeniya, Sri Lanka

Introduction: Although many maternal morbidities are documented, the true extent of certain conditions, particularly postpartum musculoskeletal disorders, remains unclear due to challenges in measurement, absence of standardized criteria, and limitations of health records in developing countries with weak information systems.Objective: This research aims to ascertain the prevalent types of postpartum musculoskeletal morbidity and to explore the association between musculoskeletal morbidity and demographic characteristics, antenatal care visits and supplementation, and postpartum complications.Methods: Conducted a descriptive cross-sectional study, the research employing a consecutive sampling method, including all consenting mothers, resulting in 230 participants. Data collection utilized an interview-administered questionnaire and musculoskeletal morbidity percentages calculated using a standardized musculoskeletal questionnaire tool employing a consecutive sampling method, including all consenting mothers, resulting in 230 participants.Results: The findings indicate that 80.4% of mothers experienced musculoskeletal morbidity, with a majority (84.0%) falling within the 25-29 age range. Over half of the mothers (62.6%) had a parity of 2 to 4. Musculo-skeletal issues reported included muscle pain (79.4%) and joint pain (70.4%), with lower back pain being the most prevalent (71.3%). Mothers faced challenges in daily activities (11.7%), walking (12.2%), breastfeeding (5.2%), and (4.3%) sleeping trouble due to these musculo-skeletal morbidities. No statistically significant relation-ship was found between BMI and musculoskeletal morbidity.Conclusions: This study underscores a notable inci-dence of postpartum musculoskeletal morbidity. There is no statistical association between musculoskeletal morbidity and demographic variables, antenatal care visits, and supplementations. However, a significant association was observed between postpartum compli-cations and morbidity. More multicenter studies are warranted including confounding variables like genetic predisposition and pre-existing musculoskeletal conditions.