5 top tips to manage pelvic pain in pregnancy and after birth

If you’re pregnant and suffering from pelvic pain, you are not alone.

Pelvic Girdle Pain (PGP) – as it’s officially known – affects 1 in 5 women, according to the Pelvic Partnership. PGP refers to pain felt anywhere round the pelvis (at the front or back, all around or inside the pelvis, or radiating into the vagina and inner thighs), most often felt when walking, bending, climbing stairs or turning over in bed. It can appear at any point during your pregnancy, or even after birth.

Contrary to popular belief, PGP isn’t an instability issue caused by relaxin (that hormone that makes your joints more flexible in pregnancy). It is rather that, for a variety of reasons, the pelvic area become sensitised and irritated. Tension and stiffness around the pelvis can cause it to get out of alignment, again causing pain.

In order to manage, reduce or completely remove symptoms - or even prevent them developing in the first place - what we want to do is to keep the pelvis aligned (symmetrical), supported and tension-free.

But what does this mean in concrete terms? Here are my 5 top tips for everyday life.

1. When standing and walking

Avoid standing more on one leg than another, jutting one hip out. Aim to spread your weight equally between both feet instead. This makes for a nice small meditation practice on your commute or while queuing at the supermarket too! When walking, avoid taking wide strides, and definitely avoid running for a train or bus (I made this mistake once and really regretted it). If walking is difficult, take small steps, shuffling your feet a bit like a geisha (it is slow, but won’t hurt as much).

2. When sitting

Try spreading your weight equally through both sitting bones, pressing down more on the side than feels ‘higher’. Keep your knees either parallel to each other, or no further apart than the length of your thigh (creating an equal sides triangle shape between both knees and pubic bone). Sitting on a birthing ball rather than a squishy sofa might feel more comfortable (and will help baby get into a good position too!).

3. Driving

To get in and out of the car, keep your knees together and swivel round in and out of the seat. You can place a plastic bag on the seat for more ‘glide’ if it helps! A cushion or deflated pilates ball can give you just the right amount of support to get your pelvis aligned and avoid tension building up.

4. Sleeping

When lying on your side, use as many pillows as you need between your knees to bring the top leg level with your hip, keeping the pelvis aligned. Sometimes, regular pillows work better than pregnancy pillows! If you’re under 28 weeks pregnant, remember it is ok to lie on your back (unless it makes you feel faint) so don’t torture yourself sleeping on your side if it’s too uncomfortable. To change sides in bed, squeeze the pillows between your knees, bring the knees as high as you can towards the chest then use your arms to start rolling to the other side. It might seem a bit tricky at first but with some practice (on the floor is easier), it will make your nights so much easier! You can check a demo on my IG feed.

5. When exercising

If you are not already, I recommend you attend a specialist pregnancy class and inform your teacher you have pelvic pain, so that they can best support you. As a very rough guide, keep your lunges short (with the front foot level with the other knee) or avoid them completely, avoid movements that take the knees or legs far apart or create asymmetry in the body, avoid impact (like jumping) and really listen to your body.

Specialist pregnancy yoga can help you learn and apply all these tips, and give you many more tools to reduce pain and regain mobility and joy of movement, in a way that is compatible and complements the advice you might given by a physiotherapist.

One-to-one pregnancy yoga classes or postnatal yoga classes are the most effective way to relieve and reduce pelvic pain and find what feels right to you, as stand-alone or before you join a group class.
To find out whether it could help you, just get in touch via the contact form or book a free chat.