Does anyone know where I can buy something to support a sore back during pregnancy? If someone has a maternity belt they would like to sell that would be great,(I`m a medium size in the US) or can anyone recommend a shop here in Tokyo? Or if someone did order online is there a particular product which they recommend? I know there are different products out there depending upon the location of the pain...mine is halfway up my back, not lower back pain.

HI Linda,
I noticed that someone 'tigerbrew' has been trying to sell a maternity belt on Tell and Sell. This is a Yahoo group: TellandSellJapan. Try signing up and you can probably still contact her for the belt.
BTW, I did acupuncture for a similar back problem during pregnancy and it worked!
Good luck!
Kir

Thanks Kirwoest for the info, unfortunately it was already gone.

Preganancy support belts over the internet: I ended up getting one called 'Loving Comfort Pregnancy Support' and another one called 'Better Binder' from Amazon. The Loving Comfort was very good until about week 30 and then started to lose its effectiveness as I was getting just so big (I'd already put on 15 kilos by then and I'm only 5'3". The Better Binder wasn't very useful as I found it too scratchy next to my skin.

Accupuncture: This just didn't work for me as I also have sciatica on both hips and found it just too uncomfortable to lie on my side for so long. This may have just been me however as I've heard good things about it from other pregnant mum`s as well as Kirwoest above so if you have back pain it's at least worth a try.

The only things that were effective towards the end were carefully planning my day so as not to stand up for too long, lots of heat packs these are wonderful and if you have to go out there are disposable ones that you can get from the pharmarcy which stick on, exercise (moderate to fast walking on a treadmill for an hour a day), and lying down.

I was tempted to get a massage, however have also heard that unless the massuer is properly trained in pregnancy massage that it can cause premature labour. I`m not sure about the accuracy of this info though.

Physio is supposed to be good however it was far from my house and I didn't try this option.