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One of the most common complaints I hear from pregnant people is the good old pain in the butt — lower back pain during pregnancy or pain in the pubic bone area in the front groin region. The pain can be absolutely excruciating and quite literally bring you to your knees. Expecting people are often told “this is just a normal part of pregnancy” and to “learn to bear with the pain.”
Adding to the confusion, what pregnant people often mistake as sciatica or lower back pain during pregnancy, is actually a Sacroiliac Joint (SIJ) issue. For symphysis pubis dysfunction (SPD), which is pain in the groin area, many people have come to us having been told to stretch their groin more when in fact that can make the issue worse!
Through our own pregnancy journeys and our experiences with thousands of other expecting people, we have learned that it’s entirely possible to feel at home in your body during your entire pregnancy with the right tools.
You don’t have to “just deal with” pelvic pain, restless legs, or constant lower back pain during pregnancy. There are plenty of tried and true things you can do right now to feel better.
Both sacroiliac joint pain and symphysis pubis dysfunction are pelvis related stability pains that many people experience during pregnancy. After all, your body is changing to accommodate your growing baby and preparing for childbirth. Check out our different targeted programs for each stage of your journey into parenthood – with tips and movements to help prepare you for your birth.
The SIJ is in the back of the body where the pelvic meets the sacrum.
You can usually characterize sacroiliac joint pain by an aching, pulling sensation in the butt region. The kind of pain that makes you want to hit your butt with your fist to relieve the pain.
The pain can worsen with a lot of sitting. Getting from sitting to standing can be excruciating, as well as getting dressed.
It might also feel like deep hip stretching can provide a lot of relief for lower back pain during pregnancy and while, deep hip stretching might feel good in the moment it can cause the SIJ to become more unstable.
The pubis symphysis is where the pelvic bones meet in the front of the body. You can often feel symphysis pubis dysfunction pain in the front of the groin, also known as the pubic area.
Burning, sharp, aching pain for many movements that require the legs to move or move away from each other, like getting in and out of a car or turning in bed.
There are exercises for relieving sacroiliac joint pain and SPD pain. Although lower back pain during pregnancy is common, be assured that with a few tweaks to your daily movement habits plus a few exercises, things can get better.
You can become more comfortable and even eliminate sacroiliac joint pain and SPD pain altogether.
To learn more about the different ways to prevent SPD and learn more about your own body listen to episode “Ep21: The embodied approach to the body and movement“.
One of the major things we want to stress is not to overstretch it! Do not treat your aches and pains by stretching them because that can sometimes really destabilize the region.
Here are two of our favorite Body Ready Method® exercises to relieve that lower back pain during pregnancy.
If you’re interested in more exercises and tips to relieve pelvic pain and discomfort during your pregnancy, get our FREE SPD / SIJ pain relief video below!
