What Pregnancy Can Do To Your Body: Pregnancy Related Pelvic Girdle Pain
Ah…motherhood! If you did not have the blessing of adoption, you had to do it the painful way! Natural delivery or C-section, it does not matter because during the pregnancy your body puts out a hormone called relaxin to soften the muscles, ligaments, and tendons to help make room for the baby to grow while still allowing your body to have room to “be”! With all these natural changes occurring, there can be some pain. But what if that pain becomes chronic, lasting much longer than the pregnancy?
If you had a C-section, it may have helped your S. I. joints stay in their proper place a little better.
The joints may be a bit “loose”, but they stay close to their proper position. You may notice your hip muscles are sore.
If you delivered naturally, we have a completely different story.
At the time of delivery, your S.I. Joints and pubic symphysis joint all separate and the sacrum moves back to allow more room for the baby’s head and shoulders to delivered. (I made that sound a lot less painful than it is!)
Once that beautiful baby is delivered, how do we know if those joints all went back into their once original positions? (That is, IF the muscles were balanced before the pregnancy!) Remember, muscles hold the joints in place.
It has been said that it takes the body up to 4 YEARS to go back to its pre-pregnancy state!
In those 4 years, how do we know that all those muscles (and many are exceedingly small muscles) went back to their strong, healthy, happy, neutral positions?
More than 80% of the women who we have seen in our 21 years of business have had S. I. Joints that were moving around or completely out of neutral position! They had been pregnant one or more times.
There are many muscles that support the S.I. Joints, but the piriformis is the muscle that can get extremely tight from trying to help hold the pelvic girdle together not to mention the fact that it is also being stretched because of the deep sway the lower back takes on from the weight of the baby being carried in front of you. That sway stretches the piriformis muscle, causing the muscles to tighten. The sciatic nerve usually runs between the muscle of the piriformis. If the piriformis is tight from continuously holding the loose S. I. Joints together AND the stretch that is occurring from the sway in the low back, it begins to restrict the sciatic nerve causing that nerve to become inflamed. We lovingly call that sciatica! Ouch!!! It causes extreme, sharp pain to shoot down one or both legs.
Did you know that most women are walking around with their hips still in the birthing position, pelvic girdle pain?
That’s correct! Unbelievably, most women are walking around with their hips and tailbone still loose and out of position! They just didn’t have the muscle stability before the pregnancy and/or they never got the muscle strength after the delivery. Who has time when you’re chasing those cute little toddlers around all day long?
If you were ever in a bad fall or an accident before you became pregnant, you will have even more problems with your hips and low back during and after the pregnancy.
Pregnancy Related Pelvic Girdle Pain is chronic, and we know how to correct it naturally and permanently! This is one of our specialties so let us help you look and feel better starting today!
www.FitworksPerfectPosture.com 407-408-7588