Using Mild Exercise to Treat Pelvic Pain during Pregnancy

Exercise

Pregnancy is a time when women tend to develop a lot of aches and pains that they are not accustomed to, and the further along the pregnancy is, the more achy a woman tends to become. But it is not necessary to simply suffer in silence if you are experiencing pelvic pain. It is best to check with your doctor or midwife first to make sure that nothing is seriously wrong (usually, everything is fine, and your body is simply reacting to carrying around extra weight that it is not used to). Once your doctor or midwife has okayed mild exercise, it is well worth trying, as stretching and strengthening the muscles of the groin area can make a pregnant woman feel much more comfortable, so that walking around and being on your feet doesn’t feel like such a chore. Your doctor or midwife may be able to prescribe specific exercises customized to your particular situation, and can also show you how to do them. You might also want to check with a chiropractor or yoga teacher who has experience dealing with pregnancy.

Using Mild Exercise to Treat Pelvic Pain During Pregnancy

Method

• Get on your hands and knees, leveling your back so that it is mostly flat.
• Breathe in.
• Then, as you breathe out, contract your pelvic floor muscles, pulling your belly button in and up at the same time. (These exercises are called Kegels.)
• Hold the contraction for five to ten seconds, and then relax.
• If you have any difficulty understanding how to do Kegel exercises, your doctor or midwife can teach you how to do them during a prenatal exam.
• You can also combine pelvic tilts with Kegel exercises. Do these on all fours as well.
• Gently stretch the ligaments in your groin area. The gentlest way to do this is to lie in bed on your side, and flex your knees toward your belly. You can put a pillow under your belly and another one between your legs while you do this. But if this method does not stretch your ligaments enough to make a difference, you can try standing and putting one foot on a chair or, if you are very flexible, on a bathroom countertop.
• Lean gently into the stretch, as if you were doing a standing split with the top knee bent.
• Then switch to the other side.

Why It Works

Pregnancy puts a strain on your pelvic floor muscles. As the baby grows, its weight pushes on those muscles, making them uncomfortable. Kegel exercises make the muscles stronger so that they can better support the baby’s weight. As an added benefit, they reduce the likelihood that you will experience urinary incontinence after the baby is born.

Some pelvic pain during pregnancy is caused by ligaments in the groin area that stretch and grow thicker to support the growing weight of the baby. This kind of pain is called round ligament pain. It can cause a short jabbing sensation when you move in certain ways, or can feel like a dull ache after a long day. Stretching the ligaments gently can reduce round ligament pain and make you more comfortable walking and moving around.

Precautions

For most pregnant women, mild exercise is not only safe, but a very wise choice that will help to reduce stress and tension, strengthen the body, and eventually help childbirth to happen more quickly and easily. But you should always check with your doctor if you are experiencing pelvic pain during pregnancy, to be certain that nothing is seriously wrong. Usually, pelvic pain, especially if it is mild, is more likely to be caused by stretched or strained muscles and tendons, but there are other possible causes that should be ruled out by your doctor. Any form of exercise begun during pregnancy, for any reason, should be approved by your doctor or midwife as well. In addition, you will want to verify that your pain is in the pelvis, and not your back. Treatment for pelvic pain and back pain differs.

When you exercise during pregnancy, make sure to rest whenever you need to, drink plenty of fluids, dress comfortably, and avoid exercising during extremely hot weather. Never exercise to the point of becoming exhausted or breathless. During the second and third trimester of pregnancy, do not do exercises that involve lying flat on your back, as these exercises decrease blood flow to the uterus.

More Remedies

• Click here for all Pelvic Pain remedies