Cycling after pgp/spd - is it ok?

[Theyaremysunshine]

Hi

DS is 4 and getting v v speedy on his bike! I'd ideally like to get a bike myself with a child seat for 15m DD so we can do just a few miles together, rather than me walking the buggy behind him.

I had pgp in my second pregnancy (probably mildly in my first too). Struggled to walk 50 yards, woke hourly at night with pain when I moved...the usual. It got 95% better after DD was born but I still have problems, though not every day. I have seen a physio and have exercises though don't do them as often as I should. I'm aching now after a fast paced 2 mile walk with DS cycling, so it's not massively restricting.

My question is, if you've had pgp have you managed cycling afterwards? Does it make it worse? Don't want to get a bike to find its a massive mistake, but I'm not planning to use it for longer than child friendly rides anyway.

Would really appreciate any experience of similar. Thanks in advance.

I had PGP and cycled not only after but during - I carried on cycling through the pregnancy and was so grateful I had, because by the end I couldn't walk more than a few metres without pain but I could still cycle ten miles. Like you I'm 95% better now, but I still find my bike more comfortable than walking.

Pilates classes help too, I find. I had physio after the birth and a lot of the exercises she gave me were essentially Pilates moves.

Thank you very much Imogen. Really helpful. I asked my physio about pilates but she said I wasn't strong enough yet for group classes.

I did pilates in my first pregnancy, but not with my second (no time) and suspect that didn't help.

Think I'll borrow a friends bike and give it a go, with the aim of getting my own soon.

Thanks again.

What sort of exercises is your physio giving you? I did pilates before and during pregnancy and still got pgp. Turns out that my very deep abdominals were weak, despite the rest of my abs, etc, being quite strong. Turns out that's the root cause of lots of my pgp and all manner of other things that have gone wrong with my body over the years (I used to be very active and used to get injured all the time). I'm only just learning this 18 months after my baby was born. My pgp went away soon after birth, but then returned after 15 months so I went and saw a really top-notch women's physio and she's massively helped.

My point it, it might be worth re-visiting the physio. And doing pilates is necessarily a catch-all cure for pgp - it's easy to cheat the exercises (usually inadvertently) and not work your weaker core muscles.

Re. biking - I've not really found it an issue. I had to give up cycling during pregnancy because it aggravated my pgp greatly. But I've gradually returned to gentle cycling since having the baby and it's been ok so far.