Pelvic Girdle Pain / Pubic Symphysis Disorder

Princessa

Hi ladies,
So back story, this is my second pregnancy. No PGP/PSD at all on my first pregnancy three years ago. Basically 6-7 weeks ago (at 17 weeks gestation) my two year old through the biggest temper tantrum of her entire life leaving the beach. I went to pick her up very awkwardly in the middle of her tantrum and i heard a pop from my pelvis, followed by unbelivable pain.

My Gp sent me to the hospital as i literally couldnt even mobilise, at the hospital, they explained that during pregnancy you get a surge of relaxin to accomadate the bundle growing inside which just leaves things a bit more unstable and unfortunatly i had caused myself some misalignment.

I am going to physio every week to ten days now since and it is much easier to mobilise about the house and that. I have crutches, heat packs, support belts, birthing balls, they are treating me for PGP as it is now called it was PSD.

I am trying to increase the distance i can walk and trying to walk outside without the crutches. Tried to walk to the local shop which is literally a 3-5min walk from my house and i am literally in agony. I cried for about 20 mins when i got home. I am so fed up. I am only 23 weeks now. Maybe im just having a feeling sorry for myself day as im very sore now.

Any other ladies have any experience of PGP/PSD? Was there anything ye found relieved the symptoms? Anybody manage to get off the crutches and be actually able to mobilise about without being in pain?

Oh i am not looking for medical advice at all, i have my GP and Physio Therapist for that, just looking for some ladies experiences is all. Thanks everybody.

dublinlady

I had it but not too bad and only from about 26 weeks I think! I went to physio but I remember all they kept saying to me was that exercise would exacerbate it - so rest is the only help
I've heard chiropractors can help with realignment during pregnancy - they just need to be specifically trained. Might help?
Other than that just the stretches the physio gave me. I was so sore I had to stop working mostly by 32 weeks.
Hope it improves - sonetimes I think the way the baby is lying effects it and so can improve!

theLuggage

I had this on my first - quite bad but not to the level of crutches. Can't remember when it kicked in but it got progressively worse and ended up at physio at about 7 months. On reflection should have gone sooner! My physio would massage muscles in my bum basically as the strain on those caused the pain in the hips and pelvic region, I think??? Sounds bit strange now I type it! I was literally hobbling around at 8 months and it is agony so sympathise hugely. My physio also does acupunture and this was fantastic - the needles really got in and relieved the tension/tightness that had built up. Had to go to a different physio at one stage who massaged the same muscles but no acupuncture. Felt great for 5 mins then the pain came back and limped to the car from the physio, whereas with the acupuncture as well as massage I'd get days/weeks of relief - not totally gone but much improved. If you are based north/west Dublin pm me and I can give you my physio details - highly recommend.

I'm on my second pregnancy now and nearly cried when the pain came back at 3 months - so early!! But from last time I had all the knowledge from my physio about posture and aligning your pelvis in neutral (if you have ever done pilates it's the same concept) I also held my core muscles in my stomach in more - whereas in first pregnancy I let it all hang loose so my "bump" would show. My physio told me to walk like you're stepping over something - feels funny at first. A few other things now that I can't remember. I went for physio/acupuncture from 4 months and at my last visit at 7 months I haven't had a problem since! Well few twinges here and there but nothing constant or severe.

Oh it doesn't go away immediately after birth either - takes a while, my physio only gave me stretches to do after my first was born and they worked quite well. She also recommended pilates, which I thought was great to keep recovering.

Be careful with yourself - especially lifting your older one, I pulled a rib muscle few weeks ago lifting my daughter and it hurt like hell, still isn't fully healed. It's so easy to do damage to ourselves with something so simple! Hope it gets better for you :-)

Princessa

TheLuggage thats exactly what i am doing at physio. Its not really excercising, it more strenghening my core stomach muscles around the pelvis and learning how to do things with my pelvis in neutral. She was encouraging me to try walk with the pelvis in neutral and using the core tummy muscles to keep myself supported stuff like that. Everything is very gradual which is handy.

I honestly hadnt thought of accupuncture.

Oh yeah i dont lift the little one at all, i did it not thinking one day and i was in agony.

I was going to ask that, if it takes awhile to return to normal even after the baby is born... Were you able to have a normal vaginal delivery if you dont mind me asking?

Thanks for the replies ladies.

theLuggage

Not at all - yeah it was a normal vaginal birth and this one is shaping up to be the same. I think if you are on crutches, you are worse than I was (that sounds terrible, sorry for phrasing but can't think straight!!) so what I would say is be careful of how wide you can spread your legs or how far you can lift them towards you before its too painful or does further damage. I don't know what you plan for your birth but if you end up on your back say with an epidural you won't feel any pain/damage till after the fact. I'm getting this from a few sites I googled last time round and they recommended measuring out your restrictions and telling the midwives so they don't push a leg too far during birth. Ask your physio and consultant etc do they think that's necessary. I never asked mine and for the life of me now I don't know why! I should have because I did plan on epidural and did get one. A friend of mine had no problems while pregnant but during labour she had a trainee midwife as well and the other midwife kept correcting her on the leg position, my friend ended up with sore back, physio visits afterwards. All fine now but goes to show when we have no pain to go by that some damage can occur.

Just doing quick google now and see one site recommends kneeling, squatting, staying upright during labour and staying off your back.

http://www.babycentre.co.uk/pregnancy/antenatalhealth/physicalhealth/spdaffectlabourexpert/

http://www.uhsm.nhs.uk/patients/Patient%20Information/Advice%20for%20Pelvic%20Girdle%20Pain.pdf

Just a few links there that mention the "pain free gap". Hope this helps!

Princessa

Thanks so much for that theLuggage. At the moment the placenta is lying below the baby so i its just a waiting game until 34 weeks to see if i am for a C-section.

I had a terrible reaction to the epidural on my first labour, i wanted to try do this one without an epidural but i guess i am just nervous considering how sore i am. We will see what happens, no point in worrying about things until after my scan at 34 weeks anyway.

Thats fantastic that you were able for a SVD, and fingers crossed for you that it works out this time.

Oh that is terrible about your friend, I know we are built to carry and bring children but it can be terribly tramatic on the body. Glad that things are ok now for her, id say if she goes into labour again she will sure to mention leg position to the midwife.

Rosy Posy

I suffered with this in my second pregnancy- I can really sympathise with a little one around as well- it broke my heart not to be able to pick my toddler up. With the third pregnancy I felt twinges of it early on but I went to a Cranio-Sacral Osteopath who had given me some relief towards the end of the previous pregnancy. I saw him every four to six weeks during the rest of the pregnancy and I had absolutely no problems whatsoever. I was doing a lot of the core/postural exercises as well. The treatment was odd- he barely touched me at all but I could feel my bones shifting into alignment. Babba loved it too- he had heaps more room to move about after every treatment.

I had a normal vaginal delivery with both but like theluggage I found that the pain didn't go away until I had regained my pelvic floor/core strength after the birth.

All the best, OP.

Princessa

Thanks so much for all the replies ladies. Its heartbreaking as she is only going on three and she doesnt understand that mammy really cant pick her up and i cant really be running and jumping around after her.

Thats fantastic that your third pregnancy was a bit smoother Rosy Posy. Not that i am thinking of that now ha ha. The OH said no more, no way this is it. He is worried that the same thing would happen again in the future.

Rosy Posy

That was a worry for us too but I got on to it sooner with the exercises and the treatments. I think with the second pregnancy I was just too tired to do anything for myself- I was just focusing on trying to keep the toddler happy and everyone vaguely clean and fed.

One positive thing that came from the situation was that I think my son and I got better at verbal communication- like I really had to make him understand me because I couldn't just physically remove him from whatever he was getting into. We also had lots of story time or arts and crafts stuff (basic stuff like stickers and collage) so that I could spend some quality time with him on my knee or on the couch sitting down without having to pick him up.