Husband’s invention to help wife’s pregnancy pain could now help women round the world

A North Wales businessman, who was inspired to design a special support girdle following his wife’s agony during pregnancy, is hoping to change the lives of thousands of women suffering severe pelvic girdle pain.

Ruth Roberts was unable to walk and forced to use a wheelchair to get around because of the intense pain she suffered while expecting her fourth child. It prompted her husband, Dafydd, to develop the harness, which supports the weight of the bump, and holds the hip bones in a comfortable position. 

Ruth and Dafydd are now working with Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board (BCUHB), after approaching Wrexham Maelor Hospital consultant obstetrician Kalpana Upadhyay. 

As a specialist in high risk pregnancies, Mrs Upadhyay decided it was time to try something new and began to gather a team around her of researchers, physiotherapists, midwives, the industry manager from Health and Care Research Wales and experts from the North Wales Organisation for Randomised Trials in Health.
 
She said: “Now we have managed to get a proper clinical trial up and running and we are hoping that it will prove our hypothesis that this device is more effective than the standard treatment available.”
   
For more information on the Harness Gravidarum, visit www.maternity-belt.co.uk 

First published: @ResearchWales Issue 1, October 2016