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May 2016 Moms
krisspy22
member
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Symphysis Pubis Dysfunction
krisspy22
member
I have been having excruciating pains in my pelvic area for weeks now. At one of my last appointments I mentioned it to my doctor who said pelvic pain is completely normal due to the release of relaxin. At the time I thought OK well this sucks but I guess everyone is going through it. As the weeks have gone on the pain has gotten so much worse, way more constant, and is now to the point where I struggle to walk, and have a hard time just trying to roll over in bed. I'm also not sleeping because the pain is just a constant throbbing from simply laying down that it keeps me awake all night.
I haven't been diagnosed with this condition, but I did some research to see if there was a reason for such discomfort. I expected there to be pain and overall discomfort in the third trimester but I never thought it would be this extreme.
Has anyone here actually been diagnosed with this condition or have experience dealing with its symptoms? I'm completely at my wits' end right now. I do have a doctor's appointment within the next day so I'm going to bring it back up, but wanted to see if anyone else had something to share.
I haven't been diagnosed with this condition, but I did some research to see if there was a reason for such discomfort. I expected there to be pain and overall discomfort in the third trimester but I never thought it would be this extreme.
Has anyone here actually been diagnosed with this condition or have experience dealing with its symptoms? I'm completely at my wits' end right now. I do have a doctor's appointment within the next day so I'm going to bring it back up, but wanted to see if anyone else had something to share.
Re: Symphysis Pubis Dysfunction
I have been dealing with sharp, jabbing pain in my piriformus (butt muscle). The strange thing is it hurts MOST after sitting or lying down. When I get up, I get these sharp pains that prevent me from standing upright and walking. I also have a general achiness in that area. It has kind of been there but has become much worse in the past week. Last night in bed my legs were so achy and my right side especially was throbbing. I was so frustrated. Poor DH didn't know what to do
DS: Born 5-17-16
I've read that it helps to keep knees together when getting out of the car or bed, putting pants on while sitting on the bed, and wearing flat shoes. I haven't ditched my wedges or heels yet though (nothing crazy, maybe 3").
I wonder if chiropractic can help at all? I've never, ever been to the chiropractor, but I would consider it if it helped ease the pubic bone pain.
It's not really "normal" in the sense that our bodies inevitably are going to have excruciating pain, but it is extremely common. Our modern lifestyles- sitting in the same position for 10+ hours a day (we sit in the car going to work, sit all day at work, then come home and sit all evening) causes hip/pelvis muscle stiffness/shortness and makes our pelves get all out of whack. Bad enough during regular life, but pile on 30-50 extra pounds on top of that and it gets exponentially worse. PLUS, all this lovely relaxin loosens up the ligaments of the pelvis; so now you have all these tight hip and pelvis muscles pulling on the pelvic bones, which get pulled apart from each other because the ligaments are so soft. And it friggin' HURTS. Before modern times, our bodies went through an endless number of positions/postures throughout the day our entire lives, resulting in tons of muscular mobility and little muscle stiffness. Now, we spend the bulk of our day in a handful of positions, and our muscles adapt by shortening (eg sitting results in shortened hip flexors, since they are in a flexed position all day long). Hence why for many people (myself included), sitting causes tons of pain.
As a remedy, pregnant women are told to stretch and exercise. Problem is, the 1-2 minutes spent stretching a muscle can't possibly overcome the 600+ minutes that muscle was held in a bad position. Plus, since those ligaments are all nice and soft, stretching often ends up stretching out the ligaments *rather* than the muscle you are trying to stretch. Stretching ligaments is very, very bad. And painful. For example, it was recommended I try the lying "V" inner thigh stretch, and all that did was pull my pubic symphysis even farther apart, making it hurt even more. As far as exercise- your body already has shortened muscles, bones pulled out of place, and wonky movement patterns. If you add exercise on top of that, you're going to be doing movements biomechanically incorrect (even something as simple as walking) and can make things even worse. Take squats for example, which are often recommended to pregnant women to help with pain. If you lack the mobility to do a biomechanically correct squat, and you haven't spent much of your life doing squats to begin with, you can easily end up screwing up your pelvic joints even more.
Unfortunately there really isn't an easy or quick fix. I tried seeing a chiropractor, and it did zilch. You can't just do a handful of exercises and stretches for a few minutes every night and expect all the pain to go away. What you need to do is try to minimize the activities causing the problem in the first place (sitting, standing, perhaps walking) and try to get the mobility back into the muscles without stretching the ligaments. I'm not a fan of regular ol' static stretching (where you get into a stretch and hang out there for a minute or two)- I've found that it doesn't stretch my muscles much, but does stretch my ligaments (bad). Instead, I try to do stretches where I move in and out of them in a slow and controlled manner several times, and then perhaps hold it for a little bit. It's very important to always be mindful of how you are performing the stretch; forcing yourself in and out of it does you no good. Concentrate on where you are feeling the stretch; it should be in the muscle itself, and the muscle should feel like it's relaxing. When you push too hard, your muscle actually contracts rather than stretches to try to protect itself, which again causes you to stretch your ligaments.
As for when to do them, do it as often as possible. Take as many movement/stretching breaks at work and home as you possibly can. You don't need to do a full-on stretching session every time; just get up as much as you can and MOVE. The more time you spend moving and the less time sitting still, the better. Like I said, 2 minutes of stretching is nothing compared to the hundreds of minutes that muscle sits still and tightens up every day. And do it *every day*, no matter what.
Other things I've found helpful are rolling on a lacross ball or tennis ball to help loosen up the pelvic/hip muscles, and simply working on relaxation. I try to do a few minutes a day of focused relaxation with some nice music, where I simply work on trying to relax all the muscles in my body. You'd be surprised how much tension you hold, even when laying down. You can also check on your tension throughout the day; check on the tension in your neck and shoulders right now. Most of us carry lots of tension there, and you can work on simply letting them relax. There's a difference between stretching a muscle, and simply relaxing it/not contracting it. Now try the same thing with your hips and pelvis- find where you are holding tension there and contracting the muscles, and let it go. Repeat 9723475 times a day. Massage is also great, but expensive, and I can't get MH to do more than a couple minutes of half-assed massage before going back to watching TV
As for the pubic symphysis itself, it is a really, really cool joint that can bend in all kinds of directions, kind of like an accordion. I highly recommend you check out it's anatomy and how it works because it is just awesome. To keep it from spreading apart too much, I've had a lot of success focusing on the mobility of the rest of my pelvis. You know your sitz bones, the two bones that you sit on? Stand up and put one hand on each one. Either bend over or squat down and see if you can feel them move apart. Now try it without letting them move apart/actively pushing them towards each other (be really careful, this can hurt, so stop if it does). Now do it again, trying to spread the sitz bones wide apart. When your sitz bones (technically called the ischial tuberosities) aren't able to move apart, somewhere else in the pelvis has to open up- the pubic symphysis. Which is ouch. So whenever you bend over, squat down (such as sitting in a chair), or get up from a squat (getting up from a chair), picture the ischial tuberosities spreading apart. You don't have to force them to, just visualize it and let it happen naturally. This has helped me a lot with not straining the PS joint. You can also extrapolate this idea to the hip joint and legs- try to move from the hip joint when you move your leg, rather than letting the bones of the pelvis move.
Lastly, the one thing I've found gives instant relief is this stretch: https://www.yogaoutlet.com/guides/how-to-do-reclined-spinal-twist-in-yoga. It basically "smashes" the PS joint back together.
Oh, and also- keep a log of what you do and if it helps or not. Since we are at the very end of pregnancy, I wouldn't expect to make tons of progress (it often takes 2-3 weeks of consistent, daily work to make noticable changes), but on the plus side, we are at the very end. It'll all be over soon!
Let me know if you have any questions!
1. Rolling over in bed, instead of rolling on to your back, go to your hands and knees. Send strange but it's so much easier.
2. Sit down to put on pants, shoes, etc. It takes an extra minute but makes it much more bearable.
3. Kegels! With everything you do that could potentially be uncomfortable, flex your kegels and abs. My PT called it "elevator up, belly button in". And practice kegels all the time. Sitting at work/in the car/in line at the grocery store/at home. Tighten and hold for ~5 seconds then relax and repeat.
BFP 1: 9/15/2013 | DD 5/23/2014
BFP 2: 9/15/2015 | EDD 5/26/2016
I was referred to a PT and they gave me a couple stretches to do so those muscles would strengthen, but they also told me how to pop it back in place. How he said to do it didn't work, but I was able to get it back in place by sitting Indian style and pushing one knee down toward the floor. As I did this my hip popped and when I stood up it was like instant relief.
Anyway, my point is, it may not be SPD so I would bring it up to your doctor again and let them know it doesn't feel like normal pregnancy pressure or separating. If you are in that much pain then they should be able to help you.
I tried chiro with my son and it didn't help a bit but everyone is different. Be very careful with stretches as the basic problem is a ligament that's already too stretched out.
A good maternity support belt has helped more than anything, doesn't seem like it would but try it. Of course this doesn't help at night when you roll over, that's still excruciating to the point of seeing stars sometimes. Keep your legs together while rolling if you can.
Good of news is that it usually goes away after the birth.
This preg (im due 7/6) i noticed some signs at the end of first trimester, mainly just rolling over in bed. All of 2nd trimester I had occasion discomfort but super minor and it didnt increase at all the last 13 weeks.... I just hit 27 weeks and this weekend and out of no where i am in tons of pain and discomfort