Got pelvic pain during pregnancy? Let’s fix it!
Spilling the details today on why you get pelvic pain during pregnancy (especially in the later months) along with 4 ways to fix it!
The thing is, if it’s not taken care of and you decide to just “live with it” activities of daily life become painful - walking, standing, sitting for a while, you name it.
As you know, it’s zero fun and very distracting.
I believe pregnancy is a time where women should feel strong, confident, and capable. Experiencing pelvic pain just takes away from all the magic your body is doing.
Let’s dive into WHY pelvic pain is so common and HOW to fix it so you can get back to feeling great!
Why you might have pelvic pain
There are many factors at play here, but I’ll break it down to the top 3 reasons:
A hormone, called relaxin, is released throughout pregnancy (and up to 12 months postpartum) which relaxes your joints and decreases stability, especially in the hip/pelvic region. Gotta make space for that baby to come out!
As baby gets heavier, your pelvis takes the brunt of the weight.
As your bump grows, your center of gravity shifts up and out, putting your pelvis into poor alignment.
4 Ways to cure pelvic pain during pregnancy
Check your alignment
If you get nothing else from this post, this is the one to pay attention to because it affects you at all times of the day - when you’re sitting, standing, and exercising.
In an ideal world, we want our pelvis to be in a neutral position MOST of the time. Due to your center of gravity shifting as your belly grows, this becomes harder as time goes on. We tend to be pulled into the anterior position (see image below). This causes excess pressure on the sacroiliac joints (back of hips, high) and pubic symphisis (front and center of pelvis).
If you’re feeling pelvic pain of any kind, it’s likely due to being in an anterior tilt most of the time.
An easy way to think of this is to imagine flashlights at the front of your hip bones:
If the flashlights are pointed straight forward, you’re neutral.
If the flashlights are pointed at the ground, you’re tilted anterior (forward).
If your flashlights are pointed at the ceiling, you’re tilted posterior (back)
Try this at home (seated or standing): Exaggerate an anterior tilt by arching the low back, then exaggerate a posterior tilt by slouching forward and rounding the low back. Finally find a happy medium between the two, that’s neutral!
Use caution with lunges
Single leg movements - like lunges, single leg deadlifts, and single leg hip thrusts - create more instability in the pelvis.
Typically this is a good thing due to the added challenge!
However, with the hormone relaxin making your joints less stable, you do not want to create further instability if you’re already feeling pain in this area.
Use caution with exercises that involve single leg movements. Notice how you feel the day after a workout to see if they could have triggered further pelvic pain.
If you notice they are contributing to the pain, cut them out and stick to 2-legged exercises (squats, deadlifts, hip bridges) for a while.
Strengthen your glutes
Yes, the glutes serve a big purpose in this case!
They help support the pelvis and keep it in a neutral position. Weak glutes could contribute to pelvic pain and poor alignment (no thanks).
Too often, women think they have strong glutes just by doing squats and lunges. But the truth is, you need to isolate the glutes, in order to get them firing on their own. In squats and lunges, often the quads or hamstrings take over and it’s not a true glute exercise.
In my video below (from Instagram) I show 2 exercises that isolate the glutes. They’re on the 3rd slide.
Straight leg lift
Glute Bridge
Turn on sound for verbal cues!
Activate the deep core
Last, but certainly not least, you must learn to activate your deep core effectively.
Just like the glutes, your deep core (transverse abdominis muscle) helps to keep your pelvis in neutral alignment. Note from #1 that poor alignment is a huge factor in pelvic pain!
Since most traditional core work is off the table from the second trimester onward, we can activate the deep core with 1 powerful breathing exercise.
Go back to my instagram post above to see my quadruped core activation exercise (4th slide). Turn on sound for verbal cues!
This is great for daily practice! In fact, I would highly recommend doing it before and after a workout or at least 1x daily for 10-15 breaths.
Final thoughts
Pelvic pain is not fun. It’s also not something you have to live with!
Try the 4 strategies outlined above to help decrease and eventually get rid of that pain so you can put the focus back on enjoying your pregnancy.
As always, there may be more methods and strategies that work for you. If symptoms persist, consider talking to your doc or physical therapist for further guidance!
Which of these methods will you try? Let me know in the comments!
Hey there! I’m Nicole, Pre/Postnatal Fitness Coach and founder of Strong Mama Wellness. I take the confusion out of prenatal fitness and help women prepare and strengthen their body for pregnancy, delivery, and recovery. You and your baby deserve to have a thriving, healthy pregnancy!
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