Thigh Labor comfort measures?

[sweeetpea]

Oh wise women - have you had clients (or yourselves) who felt labor mostly in their thighs, and if you have - what comfort measures do you think helped the most?

I have a client who has a history of excrutiating menstrual cramps, felt mostly in her thighs. I am anticipating that, perhaps, labor might be more of the same. I am thinking of lots of water (shower/tub), hot or cold packs on each thigh, and targeted massage, but would love some special tricks, if you have discovered any.

TIA,

Sweeetpea

[MidwifeErika]

Some things that might help would be soaking in water to get the weight off a bit, hot rice packs, shaking out the thighs a bit, and changing labor positions. Laboring on the back can be especially bad for leg pain, being upright might help... birth balls are great because she wouldn't have to hold her weight up with her legs during contractions.

[Rockies5]

deep massage on the legs as well.

[pamamidwife]

ugh, I had this and I felt like it was worse than the cervical sensations during contractions! The hard part about these is that they don't typically let up like contractions do.

I would likely suggest calcium with magnesium - 1000mg of cal/500mg of mag at the start of labor and then repeating every 4 hours if labor lasts longer.

I used heat, massage - constant beating basically by my husband. Just rubbing firmly.

It sucks!