SPD and work

[Halloweenbabyy]

I’m 19 weeks pregnant and suffering with SPD/PGP. My physio is suggesting crutches possibly from next week 😢. Did anyone continue to work with crutches? My manager has said she won’t allow me to work with crutches. Does SPD get any better? Or is it all down hill from here.

Oh you have my sympathy. SPD is bloody awful!

I guess it depends on your line of work, I worked in a nursery and was able to continue with risk assessments and guidance from our moving and handling chief.

I was lucky enough to manage without crutches during the day with plenty of breaks, limited duties, a support belt and a posture support (GIANT tubigrip that went from boobs to thigh!) for a while but by 32 weeks I needed them all the time and was signed off at 36 weeks.

When did you spd kick in? X

I was on crutches from very early on. I went on mat leave at 36 weeks. Was on sick leave from 32-36; worked from home 28-32.

Ah thank you for your feedback x

With #1 I think it was about the 24 week mark but with #2 it was around 16 weeks.

I've been lucky in that after the births it went away almost immediately though.

No, once I was on crutches I was not allowed to continue working (teacher). I was on sick leave from around 20 weeks until 36 weeks.

It depends on your job
2nd time round SPD kicked in at 14 weeks and only got worse. The physio told me that it doesn't get better for anyone over a pregnancy. All you can hope for is for it to not get any worse with management (stretches, wobble cushions, support cushions, avoiding triggers like stairs etc).
Sorry!
On the plus side mine disappeared the moment I had both my babies.

Good luck. I hope your manager will let you work with crutches but dont be tempted to push yourself to do more than you should. It will just make it infinitely worse and mean you'll be immobile much earlier on

I carried on working when on crutches but I have a desk job so as long as I could physically get into the office I was ok. When that started to become too much I worked from home a lot and just went in for the odd meeting. I was lucky to have that flexibility and a flexible boss or I'd have been off sick for a few months. For the last two months I needed a wheelchair for anything further than the car on the drive.

Whatever you do, look after yourself. You can make it worse and cause yourself long term damage if you aren't careful. Hope it isn't too bad for you for the rest of your pregnancy. Also hope you are lucky like Howdidido and it goes away when your baby arrives (it might not though so be prepared for physio post-birth like I needed).

@SquigglePigs please could you give me some tips, dos and donts ? Xx

I had it too from about 20 weeks onward, and the midwife referred me for physio. By coincidence the physio had just finished working in a maternity unit so had a lot of experience with pre and post-natal patients. From memory she did pressure point treatment on various spots of my pelvis and it did help.

She recommended a support garment, keeping your knees together (put a plastic bag on car seat and try and swivel your whole body to get in/out rather than separating your legs), and rest. Sorry, but that’s about all I can remember.

I was signed off work (teacher) at 15weeks with SPD. Couldn't drive the commute, stand for long periods, go up down stairs, walk very far - avoided crutches but used a stick. Private osteopath was helpful for massaging all the tense muscles in surrounding areas and sciatica, as was hydrotherapy. Using physio tape to help support and lift bump can also help to take pressure off. SPD unfortunately won't 'improve' as such until baby is born, but it can get worse as others have said. Sit on a plastic bag in the car to help you swivel out keeping both legs together, this trick can also be used in bed. Clamp a cushion between knees when turning in bed. Do not stand on one foot ever - sit down for dressing and hold onto to something when raising a foot to step over something. Be very careful of standing twisting movements - I remember one hideous episode where my pelvis literally felt like it was going in opposite directions as I stood up from a sofa 😖

There's a download guide here that's worth a look.

Basically - don't lift or push anything that requires you to strain even a little bit if you can avoid it. Keep your knees together when you can (think dignified lady getting in and out of car) swivel instead of stepping out of cars, on/off seats and in/out of bed etc. Don't try to take wide steps and slow down if you need to.

I managed without crutches and worked until 33 weeks in a job on my feet all day. I was to do no bending or lifting and took regular breaks. It really doesn't get better, I still suffer now and DS is nearly 12. If you can afford a private physio who specialises in pelvic girdle pain then honestly, do it. It will be the best money you can spend. I didn't know when I was pregnant that there were people who could help, they just weren't available on the NHS.

Swivel when you get out the car, bed and off seats so you keep your legs closed. I also recommend the band

Prepare for it to get worse as you get heavier. I was working from home by 20 weeks and signed off at 32 weeks. Sorry! Google can vice you great advice

My physio was a maternity physio she had a load of advice
As people said swivel getting in and out of cars - put a plastic bag under you to help you do that without twisting.
Sleep with a pillow between your knees, but also one between your ankles- you're trying to keep you legs aligned with your hips while asleep
Get out of bed again swiveling. Dont twist
Get dressed sat down. Dont try and lift legs to get trousers on
Get a girdle. Jojomamanbebe was the oh place I could find one locally to try on. Totally worth it. Else the physio might give you a bandage type support. Remember you're not trying to support the bump, you're trying to keep you pelvis together and aligned.
Avoid stairs. Dont be embarrassed to take the lift, insist people come to you, or if you need to go up, on your bum backwards. As a minimum take stairs one step at a time.
Dont sit with crossed legs. I had a wobble cushion for a few hours spread out over the day to help build core and keep me aligned. Dont slouch.

If you want to have sex, dont use missionary....

@Halloweenbabyy key thing is keeping your hips in alignment as much as possible so:
swing your legs out of the car together rather than one at a time
cushion between your legs to sleep
turn over in bed with both legs together (ideally onto your hands and knees and then over rather than via your back but I never got the hang of this one)
sit straight - no crossing your legs or ankles
don't over step when walking - small steps are better
on stairs do one step at a time (so both feet are on each step to avoid over stretching)

Key thing is accept that pain is telling you that you have done enough/too much. This is not a condition where you should "push through the pain"

And then when it comes to the birth read up on how to manage your birth to minimise the risk of damage to you:

pelvicpartnership.org.uk/pregnancy-and-birth-with-pgp-pregnancy-and-birth/

What is your job? I don’t think your manager can just come along and say you can’t use crutches surely!

I had a very similar work pattern to @SquigglePigs

I do still get flare ups with ovulation and periods and it was far worse with my second child.

I had weekly NHS specialist physio, a hospital supplied support belt (you can buy them but you must make sure your physio has checked your hip alignment before wearing) and crutches.

I also got access to special parking at work that was much closer to the office.

I was consultant led for my second pregnancy and was able to get dihydrocodeine painkillers prescribed which were a godsend even though I took them as rarely as possible

I look after patients. So probably not ideal to be on crutches.

I'm afraid my experience is it gets can considerably worse - I'm still seeing a physio and osteopaths 12 months after birth!

I feel so sorry for you

Like going from bed to bed on a ward? Surely you can just use them to walk about and lean them against a bed / wall until you have to walk more than a few steps?

Is there an HR department or occupational health you can speak to above your manager?

My manager has said she won’t allow me to work with crutches.
Then you need to be signed off.

I had terrible SPD. Use a dressing gown cord around you knees to keep them together and swivel off the bed.
I put a second duvet and pillows under me when it got really bad.
It did go more or less as soon as I'd given birth though. An osteopth helped a lot.

I have a desk job, on crutches from 14 weeks. Occupational health got involved and I was signed off from 26 weeks. I couldn't even make myself a cup of tea and bring it to my desk without help. A backpack was very handy for transporting files and folders without help.