There are a few important things that can decrease pelvic pain or pain caused by pelvic instability. The most important thing is to stay active when you experience pelvic instability. Another thing is to strengthen the pelvic floor muscles and strengthen the muscles around the pelvis. Think of the abdominal muscles and the lower back muscles. Your posture also influences the pelvic pain when you have pelvic instability. It’s important to find a good balance between activity and rest for the pelvis and pelvic floor. Switch up walking, working or exercising the pelvic floor muscles with a small break. The pelvic floor muscles and the pelvic ligaments are already taxed because of the pelvic instability. Try not to burden them additionally. There are also a few practical tips next to those direct actions. Sit wide-legged and adjust the way you’re walking up the stairs or getting out of bed. Below you will find a preview of all of the tips for decreasing pelvic pain caused by pelvic instability. We will discuss these tips more throughout the blogpost.
Tip 1: Keep moving.
Tip 2: Strengthen the transverse abdominal muscles.
Tip 3: Posture.
Tip 4: Activity and rest.
Tip 5: Seek help.
Tip 6: Having multiple children.
Tip 7: Sitting wide-legged.
Tip 8: Standing up.
Tip 9: Standing.
Tip 10: Dressing up.
Tip 11: Bending over and lifting.
Tip 12: Twisting.
Tip 13: Lying down.
Tip 14: Getting out of bed.
Tip 15: Walking the stairs.
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Do you have the idea that you’re developing pelvic pain during pregnancy? That’s really normal. Your pelvis is preparing itself for childbirth and is creating space for the baby. The hormones weaken the pelvic ligaments and pelvic floor, which makes the pelvis more unstable. This is also called pelvic instability. Every pregnant woman will develop pelvic instability, but that doesn’t mean that every pregnant woman will also develop pelvic pain. There are a lot that you can do when it comes to increasing pelvic pain. There are tips and advices which you can follow. You can decrease the risk of your pelvic pain increasing when you’re dealing with pelvic instability. There are a few things that you can directly initiate.
15 tips to decrease pelvic pain and pelvic instability
Pelvic instability often creates a nagging sensation, a stabbing pain or a crunching feeling. You will also get the feeling that you have to support your pelvis. The pelvis keeps getting wider which in turn brings more instability. Women often adjust their posture and movements to prevent pelvic pain as much as possible, and that’s really logical. But through adjusting your posture and movements, you can also over-encumber other muscles. This can cause new and additional issues. Follow these tips and advices when you have pelvic instability. You will become more aware of your movements and the chance of your pelvic pain increasing will become smaller.
15 tips to decrease pelvic pain and pelvic instability:
- Stay active: Staying active sounds easy but it’s challenging when you are experiencing pelvic pain, while staying active may be the most important part of the list of tips. Your pelvic ligaments aren’t muscles, so the weakening pelvic ligaments can become very sensitive throughout the pregnancy. Movement can still help you out. A strong pelvic floor ensures the pelvis to be in good shape. A strong pelvic floor can catch the pelvic weight better. The increasing belly weight will also be easier to be supported. Taking a stroll is always a good choice, but you can always do something more. Think of activities in the pool. Pregnancy yoga and pregnancy exercises are also suitable activities when it comes to pelvic instability.
- Strengthen the transverse abdominal muscles: This is a sensitive part that you need to perform properly when you’re pregnant and are having pelvic instability. You can strengthen your transverse abdominal muscles without it being damaging to the pregnancy. Strengthening the straight abdominal muscles is strongly discouraged during pregnancy. The transverse abdominal muscles ensure the right coordination instead of pure muscular strength. The transverse abdominal muscles provide a lot of support for the back and the pelvis. Those abdominal muscles are located around the belly button and run from your pubic bone to your breast bone, and from left to right across the abdomen. Kind of like a corset. Calmly lie down on the floor and on your back. You can use a thin mat or a towel. Bend your knees and keep your feet on the ground, so that your knees are pointing upwards. Keep your knees straight up and don’t let them drop outwards. Now we will focus on the breathing. Retract your belly button with light force when you breathe out. Repeat this in sets of three, as many times as you feel comfortable. 3 x 20 is fine, for example.
- Posture: Regularly switch up your posture. Keeping the same posture will cause more weakness and increases your pelvic pain. Shift a little from your left leg to your right leg to relax the pelvis when you stand up, but do make sure that you don’t keep leaning on one side, because that will overload the pelvic ligaments enormously. Sitting or standing for a long time is painful. Switch up your posture by sitting down or to walk a little bit when your pelvic pain increases.
- Activity and rest: Staying active is important but switch it up with rest when you have pelvic instability. Issues coming from your pelvic pain increase when you’re becoming tired. So take some rest after activity, this also means at your job! Listen to your body. You often compensate with another part of your body when you have pelvic pain. For example, when you have pain in your left leg, you start using your right leg more. The right leg can become overloaded. So keep in mind that you don’t develop other issues because of the compensating.
- Seek help: Seek and ask for help once it’s time to. Pelvic pain can be a huge obstacle during your pregnancy and with pelvic instability. Let a colleague help you out with your tasks. State your boundaries at your job, but also at home. Don’t lift heavy weights, like bags of potatoes or other groceries. Let your partner trim the hedges or vacuum. Vacuuming often causes you to shift your weight on one leg, and that isn’t what you should be doing when you have pelvic instability. Make use of these extra possibilities/moments to take a break, and sometimes you can use it to your advantage as well. 😊
- Having multiple children: Taking care of a little one while you’re pregnant and when you have pelvic instability can be incredibly heavy and annoying. A lot of mothers carry the already present children on one hip. Don’t do this! Try to distribute the weight on both hips, don’t put all of the weight on one hip! Don’t lift up your other child when you have pelvic instability.
- Sitting wide-legged: It may not be ideal and it can even be offensive, but sitting wide-legged provides good support to your pelvis when you have pelvic instability. Don’t cross your legs, this causes additional tension on the pelvis, the pelvic floor and the pelvic ligaments. Make sure that you have a stable surface and sit up straight. Maybe you can temporarily make use of a dining chair instead of a deeper couch? Relax your glutes and make sure your feet have a firm ground. You can otherwise grab a shorter stool if you can’t reach the floor. Another comfortable position to sit in is cross-legged, as if you’re about to meditate. Try it out, I’d say! This is a very relaxing position when you have pelvic instability. Do use a nice pillow for your buttocks.
- Standing up: Standing up is becoming quite the investment when you have pelvic instability and pelvic pain. Try to use the transverse abdominal muscle exercise for this. Retract your belly button a bit. Move your pelvis somewhat forward, place a foot in front of the other and move upwards from your breastbone. So properly straight up. Push your feet firmly against the floor. Like that you stand up straight like a stock and are immediately in the starting blocks!
- Standing: It’s often underestimated, but standing while you have pelvic instability can also be incredibly painful. Especially when you don’t switch up your posture. Don’t hang around on one leg, but use both legs. The pelvis are in need of support, and one side isn’t strong enough to catch up all of the weight. Otherwise you end up hanging in the pelvic ligaments of one hip. Bend your knees lightly, point your toes not fully forward, but slightly outward. Great!
- Dressing up: You can walk around the house in your Eve costume for 9 months, your partner will be delighted but I’m sure it can be embarrassing when your mother-in-law is at your doorstep. So maybe let’s get dressed up after all. Do this seated when you’re experiencing pelvic instability. It sounds like this is an advice written for seniors, but dressing up while standing can be very taxing for the pelvis and may increase your pelvic pain. You will stand on 1 leg, for example. This causes you to lose balance quicker. You don’t want to fall on that beautiful belly, so choose for your safety!
- Bending over and lifting: The growing belly gives your body another gravitational point. Try to find your balance without compensating your body too much. Squatting is an ideal posture to bend over or to lift with. Push your buttocks back, bend your knees and keep your shoulders placed above your knees. Keep your back straight and twerk it!
- Turning: Turning always has been a difficult movement for the body. It can easily shoot into your back during a turn or a twist, and you’re especially sensitive to it when you experience pelvic instability. That’s why you shouldn’t combine twisting with another movement. First you have to finish one movement before you start with another. Clear out the dishwasher. Grab a few plates first and then walk towards the cabinet. Don’t twist or turn when you bend over or lift when you have pelvic instability.
- Laying down: Laying down in bed can be a challenge when you have pelvic instability and pelvic pain. That’s why you should try laying on your side with a pillow stuffed between your knees. The pelvis will be quicker to relax. You can also have a read through my blog about sleeping with pelvic instability!
- Getting out of bed: This may be the most complicated movement if you experience pelvic instability; getting out of bed. Don’t sit up straight in one go. Make sure that you are laying on your side and let your legs, while retracting the belly button a little, exit the bed first by letting them fall over the edge of the mattress. With your arm that is currently on the bed, you lightly push yourself and your torso off the mattress. Now you’re sitting up straight with your legs over the edge of the bed. Press your right heel against the bed while your feet are making contact with the floor. Just like getting up from a chair from tip 8. Move your hips forward, bend the torso lightly forward and press your feet into the floor. “Houston, we have a lift off!”
- Walking stairs: You may sleep upstairs, so being able to get downstairs surely is beneficial. Make sure that you have a straight posture while walking downstairs. Keep your shoulders on 1 line and don’t hesitate to use the railing, just make sure you don’t hang on it. Keep your posture straight, if necessary, take it step by step, first one foot and then the other, so that you can shorten the time of standing on 1 leg and so that you apply less weight. If this is still painful, try to walk down the stairs backwards. This is often less painful and less taxing!
Pelvic floor exercises for pelvic instability and pelvic pain
Do you want to start with some exercises before you visit a therapist? That’s very understandable and this might already decrease your issues. I have found, summed up, and bundled a couple of pelvic floor exercises for you. Feel free to take a look and who knows, this may be the solution for you!
Sex and pelvic instability
Do you still want to have a fun evening with your partner and get it on despite having pelvic pain or pelvic instability, then I’ve also written a blog where you can find out which sex positions are most suitable for when you experience pelvic pain issues in and around the pelvic area. Carefully read through them but also listen to your body. Don’t force the pain.
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 web shop 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.
