A thirty-five year old woman who complained of excruciating pain in the pelvis, the right hip and the lower back region, associated with inability to stand or walk without extreme discomfort, was referred to the in-patient physiotherapy department of the Lagos University Teaching Hospital. A working clinical and radiological diagnosis of post-partum pubic diastasis was made by the referring physician. She had had a safe vaginal delivery of a 4.3kg female child about six weeks earlier. Though her two previous deliveries were by caesarian section, she had refused surgery this time and opted for a vaginal delivery. Before presentation, the patient had been placed on bed rest for 5 weeks with no physiotherapy intervention at the referring hospital and without any significant improvement in her pain and disability profiles. Subsequent management with conservative physiotherapy, using pain modulating treatment combined with bed rest for 4 weeks, resulted in very significant improvement in pain, mobility, and gait.

 

Key words: symphysis pubis, diastasis, physiotherapy.