[buckeye_bebe]

I was having some pretty bad hip pain when doing leg lifts and otherwise stretching my hips. I was having some hip pain...when using the loo too. So I tried my best to warm up my legs and stretch them out. Between leg lifts and using the exercise ball (plus some miscellaneous floor stretches) I just made the problem worse. When I woke up this morning, everything was angry. Right now I am sitting and everything but my pelvis is comfortable. My hips hurt, my "sit-bones" hurt, and I feel that sciatica thing some pregnant women complain about. My sit-bones feel like I'd ridden to Maine on my bike. I could be wrong, but even some of my "parts" feel angry. Yeah look at me with the sprained labia?

I am going to take an epsom salt bath as soon as I can get someone to watch my toddler, and I'm going to take some more tylenol as soon as I can wiggle off my duff. It takes a lot of effort to get up anymore! Last night ligament pain kept me wincing every time I got up to use the loo, in addition to the hip pain.

So...even though I hurt myself stretching out...is there...well, some more stretching or something more gentle I can do? Thanks for your suggestions!

 

[jsh7809]

I had a similar thing happen a few weeks ago. A combination of LOTS of rest, some super gentle swimming, and bouncing on the birth ball seems to have made me normal again. But it's hard to say - you might have the same result by just waiting a few days for everything to heal/ adjust.

 

[slgt]

I'm no expert at all - just dealing with the same types of pain. Unfortunately, I've noticed that anything aggressive causes problems & makes the problems worse. I think the issue is weight-bearing - it tends to push things apart. I hate to say it, but you might want to avoid lifting until the pain completely disappears.

Rest, gentle exercise (elliptical, swimming - less shocking cardio), concentrating on walking more softly, and rest. The rule for stretching is - if it hurts, or makes you hurt worse afterwards - don't do it. Be very, very aware of pelvic alignment and pressure when you are sitting, standing, walking. If things hurt or feel funky, stop, and slowly readjust your position.

I had PSD with my last pregnancy and tried to x-country ski through it, under the theory that exercise & stretching would help. Big mistake - I was in significant pain the last 2 months of my pregnancy. This time around (2nd baby), my hips/pelvis are worse, earlier. Being gentle on them and not trying to push through it makes a huge difference.

FWIW, though, the pain went away pretty much the instant i went into labor, and didn't return again until I was pregnant again!

 

[BlackSheepPDX]

Not sure how far along you are, but if you're far enough along to be having hip pain, you're probably far enough along that you have some semblance of a belly, in which case, hate to break it to you, but give up the ab work. Leg lifts are going to be brutal on a body that doesn't have the ability to control the low abs, and that's what happens as the belly grows and the abs can't pull in the right direction. Instead, the hip flexors and other pelvic muscles are going to try desperately to stabilize you, and fail miserably because your pelvis is loosening and becoming unstable naturally. Not sure what you were doing on the ball, but same rule applies. You CAN do face down, hands and knees type stuff, engaging your low back and hip muscles from that direction, and sidelying things, and those are helpful in relieving some of the inevitable strains and pains as pregnancy progresses.

I work in Sports Medicine, and I'm a very stubborn pregnant lady, so believe me, if I thought it was reasonable to do ab stuff, I'd totally tell you so! I haven't personally had SPD issues, but my understanding is that large range of motion movements are the most problematic. Not sure if you're having SPD or just the generalized hip/round ligament stuff.

Hope this helps!