Pregnancy Related Pelvic Girdle Pain
Last week, Netherlands physiotherapist Cecile Rost came to Toronto to teach her program for the treatment of pelvic girdle pain to a group of fellow physiotherapists. I was lucky enough to be part of this group. Here is a little snippet of what it was all about…
So what exactly is pelvic girdle pain? It is pain most commonly experienced by women during pregnancy and may persist into the post-partum period and onward. The pain can be severely debilitating and will usually present in the areas of the pubic bone and groin, hips and sacro-iliac joints in the lower back region. The pain can be quite sharp and can significantly limit the ability to walk, move from sitting to standing, maintain a position for any prolonged period of time or lie on your side. The strange thing with this pain is that it may wax and wane in a way that can make the woman experiencing it think she is going crazy. Well, I am here to say that you are not!
What causes this pain? Pelvic girdle pain is a result of an imbalance within the muscles and pelvic alignment. During pregnancy, a woman’s body changes and shifts in order to accommodate for a growing fetus. This creates less ‘form closure’ within the pelvis. In addition to this, altered postural alignment can cause faulty muscle patterning and activation. As a result, a woman may lose her ability to keep the pelvis stabilized with appropriate muscle coordination or what physiotherapists call ‘force closure’.
Cecile Rost’s program helps rebalance pelvic symmetry, educates a woman on how to move with proper body mechanics and addresses faulty postures. By doing this in addition to improving muscle strength and coordination you can improve pelvic girdle pain immensely!
If you are experiencing pain during pregnancy or in the post-partum period, don’t ignore it. The sooner it is addressed, the better your outcomes are.