Mostly pregnant women have pelvic pain – sharp pain felt most often in the hips or groin. Experts believe that pelvic pain, also known as pelvic girdle pain, is caused by a variety of factors related to normal pregnancy changes.

The pelvic girdle is a ring of bones around your body at the base of your spine. PGP is pain in the front and/or the back of your pelvis that can also affect other areas such as the hips or thighs. It can affect the sacroiliac joints at the back and/or the symphysis pubis joint at the front. PGP used to be known as symphysis pubis dysfunction

SYMPTOMS OF PELVIC PAIN

FIRST TRIMESTER: accommodation pain due to your expanding uterus

SECOND TRIMESTER: round ligament pain that starts in your side as the ligament that goes from the top of the uterus down to the groin stretches

THIRD TRIMESTER: Pressure from your baby’s weight putting pressure on the nerves that run from your vagina into your legs.

YOU MAY FEEL PAIN

• At the front or center of your pubic bone, level with your hips
  
  
• On one or both sides of your lower back
  
  
• In your perineum, the area between your vagina and anus
  
  
• When you spread your thighs
  
  
• You may feel a clicking or grinding in the pelvic area
  
  

MANUAL THERAPY CAN HELP

Manual therapy help to relieve or ease pain, improve mobility, and improve pelvic joint position and stability. Manual therapy during and after pregnancy can help decrease low back, pelvic pain and post-delivery bladder problems.

• Manual therapy to help joint alignment and your pelvis, hips, and spine move normally
  
  
• Exercises to support your pelvic floor, stomach, back and hip muscles
  
  
• Addressing pain triggers such as posture, flexibility, or nerve involvement
  
  
• Education on lifestyle changes to reduce pain
  
  
• Water-based exercises
  
  
• Advice on positions for sleeping, sex and labor and birth
  
  
• Pelvic support belt or crutches