Is pain during pregnancy normal?
Is pain during pregnancy normal? Pain during pregnancy is common, but not normal. Many women experience painful symptoms during pregnancy - sciatica, pubic symphysis pain, SI joint pain, hip pain, back pain…the list goes on and on. You do NOT have to settle for this. Pregnancy is meant to be a time of celebrating what your body can do, embracing the changes happening in your body, and looking ahead to the changes you will experience with bringing this new life into the world. If you have pain during pregnancy, get in touch with a women’s health physical therapist who specializes in treating pregnant mamas. There is HOPE for improvement in your pain.
There are many changes that are happening in a pregnant mama’s body. Some of these changes include your pelvis widening to accommodate the growing baby. Thanks to your hormones (hello relaxin), your ligaments are increasing in flexibility too. You may notice that your bra is fitting tighter than normal. This is often due to an expansion of the ribcage as it widens and flattens to create space for baby. Your belly is also growing and expanding. Your pelvic bones and pelvic floor muscles have an increased load as baby grows and there is more weight to support. These are all good and important changes that are happening in your body as you are growing new life. All of these changes are helpful to accommodate your growing baby and can be helpful for delivery of a new baby. How amazing is it that our bodies were created to bring forth new life?!
Here are my top 3 exercises for pain relief during pregnancy:
Exercise #1: Hamstring 90/90 engagement with feet on wall.
Lying on your back, place your feet on the wall with your knees and hips bent to 90 degrees. Without moving your feet, gently pull heels down into the wall to engage your hamstrings (backs of your thighs). Then slightly lift your knees towards the ceiling allowing your bum to tuck under and lift of slightly from the ground. Hold this position and breathe, inhaling thru your nose and exhaling thru your mouth. Hold 1 min with slow breathing, repeat 3x.
Exercise #2: Supine alternating heel tap
Begin by lying on your back, connect your pelvis and ribcage into the ground. While keeping your back connected to the ground, exhale with your core braced and with control tap your heel to the ground. Maintain core engagement throughout exercise and lower your foot slowly during exhalation. You should feel your core work while maintaining your back connected into the ground.
** During exercise monitor if you are noticing doming or coning through the middle of your abdomen. This would be an indication to adjust the exercise or consulting a women’s health physical therapist to learn how to engage your core to prevent damage of your diastasis (the separation of your abdominal muscles during pregnancy).
Exercise #3: Sidelying hip abduction
Lying on your side, bend knees and tuck bottom slightly under, rounding the trunk forward. While lying on side, lift bottom ribcage off of ground and gently engage abdomen. Then lift your top leg towards the ceiling, keeping your knee and hip parallel to the ceiling. You should feel this exercise on the side of your top hip. Lift and lower slowly with control. 2-3 sets 5-10 reps.
Happy exercising mamas,
Dr. Kara