10 tips for pelvic pain:
- Laying down for a moment.
- Hollow and Rounded.
- Gravity.
- Supportive pillars.
- Wobble-Wobble.
- Cushion.
- Wide-legged.
- Footwear.
- Active.
- Pain is pain.
You recognize pelvic pain by a nagging or stabbing pain in the hips, bum and/or back. Next to that, you can experience pain in the groin or have a radiating pain in the upper legs. Pelvic pain doesn’t always have to be in or around your pelvis. Pelvic pain often occurs before or during pregnancy. Hormones often mess up your pelvic girdle. Think of menstruation, a pregnancy, but the menopause can also give pelvic pain. If you so happen to be pregnant or you’ve just given birth, then your pelvic pain often comes from pelvic instability. Pelvic pain or instability during or after the pregnancy is a big and common issue. You are not alone in it, 1 in 5 women is walking around with this pain around the bum.
If you’re looking for pelvic floor exercises or go to the exercises page. If you’re looking for products for your pelvis and go to the Pelvic Store.
Before we go to the tips, I would like to give you some more information about pelvic issues first.
Additional information on the pelvis
First the boring part. The culprits are mostly the ligaments. These ligaments are, as you can guess, around every joint. This is to keep everything together and to make sure that you can put your leg up in our neck without your leg coming loose. The ligaments provide stability and support. The length of your ligaments and muscles make sure that you (responsibly) can end up being a birds nest or not.
The pelvis, also called the hips by everyone, consists out of 3 joints and 3 big pieces of bone. 2 of these joints are located at the back and 1 at the front. The joints at the back are also called the SI-joints and the frontal joint is located at the pubic bone. You can recognize the SI-joints by the 2 sexy dips in your lower back.
What effects do the hormones have on pelvic pain?
It turns out that the growth of your small bean in your belly has effect on the ligaments and joints. Your pink cloud doesn’t have to stay pink during this period. Your hormones are racing through your body. There are specific hormones like HCG, Progesterone, Relaxin and for example estrogen that all have their own influence on your pregnancy. These hormones also make sure that the ligaments around your pelvic joints become looser. This is necessary so your big headed baby can fix through your hooha.
Normally your body often takes care of compensation when it notices it’s needed. So it can keep on moving properly through those physical changes, for example. We also call that proprioception. But the ligaments becoming longer and wider can also cause issues for the body and keeping control over itself.
A huge pain will rise up. And that’s difficult because the pelvis or the hips are also the ‘city center’ of your body. Everything passes it or is involved with it. You’re already putting strength on your pelvis when you’re putting strength into your legs, arms or upper body. So you can imagine that when you’re having hip pain or pelvic pain, that you can also get issues in the rest of your body. You move differently when you’re in pain, after all. Ladies with pelvic instability often have issues in different parts of their body as well. The most important muscles around the pelvis are your back muscles (the two, long cables next to your spine), the blocks or block (your abs), leg muscles, hip muscles, a nice firm ass (ass muscles), pelvic floor muscles (so you can keep up your urine), and your breathing muscles (diaphragm). So I’m sure you can imagine that when you’re moving differently because of the pain in your hips, that it will also have an effect on all these other muscles.
What other causes for pelvic pain are known?
Normally the issues rise up in or after three weeks after giving birth. There are a few demonstratable factors that can have effects on the origins of your issues. Think of logical points like the size of your child, moving extremely during pregnancy (heavy physical work), multiple pregnancies/childbirths and pushing very long during the childbirth. If you are someone who experiences back issues, SI-joint issues or maybe have experienced an accident that affected your pelvis, then you have an increased chance of developing pelvic issues during pregnancy.
The biggest myths are that smoking, your height, age, weight, the birth control pill or the time during the last pregnancy and the most recent one have influence on getting or worsening pelvic instability. So don’t let yourself get fooled. Even top athletes experience pelvic pain during pregnancy. This is because everyone gets pelvic instability when they’re pregnant. This doesn’t immediately say that you will suffer from pelvic instability, but there is a higher chance to get pelvic pain when you have pelvic instability as well.
Giving birth with pelvic pain
Giving birth while lying down is a very unnatural way of giving birth. When you’re lying with a curved back and bent legs, you have to push your baby out against gravity. This is because the pelvis is tilted up like a little bowl when you’re lying with a bent back. Your baby has to be pushed UP a slide, so to speak. A birthing stool is a demonstratable posture to prevent developing pelvic issues. But that isn’t the only thing. A forceps delivery or vacuum extractions already don’t sound too nice, but they have influence on developing or worsening pelvic/hip/bum issues as well.
When do you have pelvic instability?
There are, as you’ve read, a few places where pelvic issues can settle. You can have pain in your upper legs, hips, pubic bone, groin, around the tailbone, the bum, lower back, and the front and back of the pelvic girdle. You often hear that multiple places hurt at the same time and not one spot can be pointed out specifically. Having a strap-like sensation around your hips is commonly heard as well. Not all issues have to be present at once.
Distinctively is a crunching and snapping sensation. Sharp, stabbing and shooting pain are very common too. This is often around the dips in your lower back (SI-joints). Muscle ache or having a weak feeling in your legs is a frequent issue as well. Weakness often gives a sensation of feeling tired. This can cause you to think to take a break for a moment and very often. Your shape will worsen rapidly because of that, which gives the consequence that you are able to do less. It’s a nice and fun cycle.
Where can you go to with pelvic pain?
Always look for someone that’s specialized with your issues. A pelvic therapist, for example. Think of a pelvic exercise therapist or a pelvic physical therapist. They will give you specific tips for your issues. They will also give you some simple exercises to do. Posture and movement are the two keywords for your treatment. The better you can move, the more confidence you will have!
10 tips for pelvic pain and pelvic instability
- Laying down for a moment.
Think about resting, but stay active and change it up properly with rest. - Hollow and Rounded.
Think of a good posture. Mirror me: go stand up right with your knees a little loose, center your pelvis, no hollow but also no rounded lower back. Stretch your back properly by showing off your front, keep your shoulders low and somewhat to the back, head upright and chin a bit retracted. It feels unnatural but every time you think about this posture it’s once more than before. - Gravity.
Your point of gravity changes. Your pregnant belly brings change in your posture. Think of the so-called red thread along your body: the bump on your ankle (lateral malleolus), sides of your knees, hipbone, sides of your shoulders and head need to be in a straight line. You often see a lot of pregnant woman walk with a hollow back to compensate the weight, but watch out with that. It can help you to keep the weight a bit more in your heels. - Supportive pillars.
Use both legs. Divide your weight over both legs. Don’t lean or stand on one leg. The support of your muscles disappears and that way you’re hanging in your ligaments! - Wobble-wobble.
Are you standing still for a bit? Wobble gently from your left leg to your right leg with your feet spread out a little. This gives some relaxation and keeps your pelvis centered. - Cushion.
Keep a cushion or a pillow between your legs while you sleep. - Wide-legged.
If you’re sitting for a long time, keep your legs straight in front of you on the ground or a bit spread out. But not too sexy of course . Or should it…? - Footwear.
Look for good, stable shoes and use them! - Active.
Think about resting but also keep your shape in mind. Continue as long as you’re comfortable. A bit of muscle ache or afterpains is of course not an issue. Think of movements that are doable for you. - Pain is pain.
Listen to your body. Don’t continue when you’re experiencing pain. Pain is a boundary and a limit. Stop and take a break.
And lastly, are you looking for more information?
Hopefully this information was useful to you! If you’re still looking for some more information, feel free to take another look around on the website. It’s filled with in-depth information, tips a webshop and also exercises. I still have a lot of articles with lots of information about other symptoms and issues. Feel free to click on the blue words to take you straight to the right page.
