In the last week my hips and back have become really achy. I wonder if my ligaments are starting to get loosy goosy. I've been using a heating pad and getting some massages, but is there anything else I can do? I need to start strengthening my back (my posture is awful and pregnancy won't help!) but am not sure what exercises are pregnancy safe. Any thoughts?

In the last week my hips and back have become really achy. I wonder if my ligaments are starting to get loosy goosy. I've been using a heating pad and getting some massages, but is there anything else I can do? I need to start strengthening my back (my posture is awful and pregnancy won't help!) but am not sure what exercises are pregnancy safe. Any thoughts?

yes, mine are really bad this time. when i squat down, if i don't get up just so, my hip goes out and i walk like an old lady because of the pain. check out "Essential Exercises for the Childbearing Year" by Elizabeth Noble. It's wonderful and I highly recommend it.

My back is getting achey and it doesn't help that I've been moving furniture around, lifting heavy boxes and carrying my 32lb 23 month old around on my back a lot lately! :p Prenatal yoga has worked wonders for me in the past - I need to dig out my dvd and get back into it!

I'm gonna be 13 weeks on Monday and I have noticed over the course of the last week that my back is way more achy. Luckily DP doesn't mind giving massages. :)

My back has not been to bad but my hips are awful. They are especially bad at night. When ever I lay on either side my hips start to ache after about 2 hours. The only way that my hips don't ache is if I sleep on my back but that is so uncomfortable in every other way. I am going to try the pillow between the legs thing tonight and see if it helps but if not I don't know what I am going to do.

I have had many other people say the the pregnancy yoga is good. I may have to try and find it. Thanks for the reminder.

I have not started with the achy hips and back, but I know it is coming! I have however had achy shoulders. Both sides hurt when I lay on them at night...it is so frustrating and I seem to end up flat on my back every night. I may have to get in to see a chiropractor....

YES! Everything is loosening up, I feel like I'm wobbling when I walk! I'm starting yoga next week, it always helps and feels so good to stretch those muscles.

this is why i love my chiropractor. :D

this is why i love my chiropractor. :DMe too!!!

I was getting horrible backaches a couple weeks ago, which were made even worse by carrying luggage during a trip. I could barely walk without yelping out in pain. When I got back from the trip, I saw my chiropractor right away. By the third adjustment, backaches gone! And they haven't come back since, although I have been getting adjustments more often than normal to help my body adjust to all the changes.

Anyway, I highly recommend seeing a good chiropractor!

I should see a chiro. My hips and back have been so loose and achy. When I walk I can almost feel my hips moving and grinding. Not fun! For me, doing some pelvic tilts seems to help.

I don't know if my ins. will cover any chiro visits. I'd love to go, but between the midwife fee and the doula fee and LIFE, I feel bad spending more $ on my pregnancy right now. Maybe once I start getting bigger. I also have a good friend who does prenatal massage, I will probably give her a call.

it's SO worth the money!! most chiros will work with you... the insurance thing is pretty common. wouldn't hurt to call around..but make sure the chiro is comfortable adjusting pregnant women!!

it's SO worth the money!! most chiros will work with you... the insurance thing is pretty common. wouldn't hurt to call around..but make sure the chiro is comfortable adjusting pregnant women!!

I know a few chiros who special in pregnancy and children. I'll have to call them up sometime.

My hips and back aren't achy, but MAN I feel like I have a rock solid pillow! I wake up every morning with either a neckache or a headache from my pillow firmness. Now they aren't particularly stiff pillows, and we have a pillow top mattress! So I don't know, but I am achey like that!

:hug

First, try a chiro- if you're getting aches and pains this early with a first, you may need the help (putting it nicely.) Also, keep your hips and knees level- sleep with a pillow between your knees, sit in a proper chair, and so on.

I'm planning on starting pregnancy pilates next month (when we have more money) because my core abdominals just aren't doing what they're meant to. I've just ordered a support belt as well to help with the weight of the bump- my left sacro-iliac joint keeps popping in and out and it's making life difficult. I know last time round 16 weeks was the worst time, and the problem started to balance itself out as I got bigger and my muscles figured out how to compensate, so I'm hoping the same thing happens again.

:hug I know broken bottoms aren't much fun. Do NOT, under any circumstances, indulge in athletic sex, btw. Moving your leg into a funny position now could literally leave you stuck like that...

Oh, good. I thought I was insane, already having backaches at just shy of 14 weeks.

I'm also feeling little stabbing ouches when I sneeze unexpectedly. Oy, I guess the changes are upon me :P

it's SO worth the money!! most chiros will work with you... the insurance thing is pretty common. wouldn't hurt to call around..but make sure the chiro is comfortable adjusting pregnant women!!


I will second this. I'm really having to juggle things to be able to afford seeing the chiro (who luckily takes my insurance - but the co-pays are high). I had to cancel an appointment a few weeks ago because we just didn't have the money and boy was that a mistake - all of the pain came back in spades. When I saw him for my next appointment he basically told me to never do it again - he didn't care if it took me months to pay him back, getting my adjustments on time were more important. My case is a little unusual since I have some heavy-duty joint degeneration in my pelvis and lower back and would be/have been in some serious pain without the adjustments.

Hip and back pain is sometimes made worse by how you sleep. I am a certified pregnancy massage therapist, I always advice my clients that the key to a happy body is pillows, lots of pillows. You should be sleeping on your side, stack a couple of pillows in front of the bottom leg which should be straight. The pillow stack should be high enough that when you put your top leg slightly bent onto the pillows your hip knee and ankle are making a straight line. That will help with the back pain. You should also put enough pillows in front of your belly so that your arm can rest comfortably without you having to rotate forward to rest it on the bed.

This helps my clients and it got me through 2 pregnancies!

Wow, I'll try that, milkmama. I can see problems with my little pillow-thief, though (the non-cosleeping child who ends up in our bed most nights) but it sounds so comfy.

I'm feeling the aches already and dreading what is to come. We have bad coverage for chiro but excellent coverage for massage (100% unlimited, woohoo!), but I hate using it these days because I never get around to putting in the receipts and we can't afford the money output like we could before.

When I was pregnant last time, though, I was going weekly for chiro and massage in my third trimester. It definitely helped. My massage therapist showed me an exercise your partner can help you with.

Lie on your back with your knees up. Have your partner sit/stand/kneel at your feet. Have him place his hands on the outside of your knees. Then, have him apply pressure inwards while you attempt to push his hands outwards. I hope this makes sense. Do the same thing with his hands on the inside of your knees (so you're pushing the opposite direction). Hold each for about five seconds. Repeat both exercises three times, with increasing pressure from both of you each time.

I found I could also do it in the bathtub, because ours is small. The sides of the tub provided the resistence when I pushed outward, and the massage therapist recommended a basketball (or similar) for pushing inward (I never tried that). I LOVED this exercise. It felt awesome on my back.

This might sound crazy, but has anyone tried belly dancing? =) I mean, as a way to work out those muscles without doing too much?

I used to do pilates and yoga, and it just made me more sore, so when I found a teacher I liked, I switched to belly dancing! (I have a bad foot injury, so everything has to be low impact) I didn't start until right after I had my son, but I imagine it would've been good pre-baby too. Empowering, with that big belly! =) I don't know if I'm any thinner, but I definitely feel like my hip, butt, and stomach muscles are stronger.

Haven't tried belly dancing, but I bet it would help the muscles if you were careful not to push into it or anything. Sounds fun!

I just went to the chiro today, but unfortunately the "good" one (read: talented, knows what he is doing, and worth every penny) had to leave for some emergency, and I was adjusted by his no-talent hack of a partner. It's like he's pretending that he's a chiropractor. Sorry to be so cranky, but my lower back is KILLING me, and I know I am doing a terrible time working on my posture and my muscles myself. Our visits are 100% out of pocket, so we only go 1 time per month. Argh!

Thankfully the unbelievably awesome and helpful prenatal yoga class that I LOVED and was my life-saver and back-saver with my last pregnancy (my one big pregnancy splurge cuz it's not cheap) starts in a couple of weeks. Something about going to the class weekly and making it part of my routine helps me to really focus on being pregnant and taking better care of my pregnant body. I can't wait to start!

Thanks for letting me vent! Hang in there, mamas!

I just went to the chiro today, but unfortunately the "good" one (read: talented, knows what he is doing, and worth every penny) had to leave for some emergency, and I was adjusted by his no-talent hack of a partner. It's like he's pretending that he's a chiropractor. Sorry to be so cranky, but my lower back is KILLING me, and I know I am doing a terrible time working on my posture and my muscles myself. Our visits are 100% out of pocket, so we only go 1 time per month. Argh!Emily, can you call back when the good chiro is back in town and explain that the adjustment didn't help (or maybe made it worse)? Maybe they would give you a free adjustment to make up for it. I've done that when my chiro has gone out of town and I've been adjusted by someone not as experienced.

My midwife told me it's the sacrum, or more accurately, the joint/cartilage where the sacrum connects to the pelvic bones, that is giving me fits. The joys of relaxin. She suggested the exericizes our resident expert already suggested, and she also suggested that when I go out for my constitutional, I vary my pace.

Finally, she said that considering the long hours I log in front of the computer (and then for fun, on the couch scrapbooking or doing needlework), I should get a low stool so that while sitting, my knees are higher than my hips.

Seems to be helping!

Emily, can you call back when the good chiro is back in town and explain that the adjustment didn't help (or maybe made it worse)? Maybe they would give you a free adjustment to make up for it. I've done that when my chiro has gone out of town and I've been adjusted by someone not as experienced.

You know, I never thought about it before. I can definitely give it a try, though. I can say without doubt that I don't feel the least bit better today at all. Thanks for the suggestion!

This might sound crazy, but has anyone tried belly dancing? =) I mean, as a way to work out those muscles without doing too much?

I used to do pilates and yoga, and it just made me more sore, so when I found a teacher I liked, I switched to belly dancing! (I have a bad foot injury, so everything has to be low impact) I didn't start until right after I had my son, but I imagine it would've been good pre-baby too. Empowering, with that big belly! =) I don't know if I'm any thinner, but I definitely feel like my hip, butt, and stomach muscles are stronger.

I was doing belly dancing until about 7 weeks pregnant when the ms overwhelmed me. Since feeling better I've been thinking about how much those moves would help me loosen up! I will be checking the schedule to see if they're having classes that would work with my schedule. If I don't do that, I'd like to do prenatal yoga just to meet other Moms and not sweat!

Note to everyone else: when swimming, if your sacral joints are falling out, don't do breaststroke legs :( It really really really really hurts.