Crippling Pubic Symphysis pain - nearly 5 yrs after my last baby

[RnBee]

Oh poo I had terrible SPD when pregnant with ds1 and ds2, which never seemed to go away after they were born. I have good days and bad days but I can never really pinpoint what triggers a bad attack or not.

And then yesterday -OMG- I just couldn't move when I woke up. Horrendous pain. managed to struggle to the bathroom, where I fainted because the pain was so bad. Then managed to get onto the toilet and promptly fainted again

There was no way I could do the school run and their dad had to take to day of work to look after me.

I went to the doctor and although he was very sympathetic there is little they can do. They can do a scan and if the gap between the bone is over a certain length they can operate but this is rarely done on the NHS.

Has anyone here had this? Has anyone seen a chiropractor about this sort of thing with good results? My sister is a physio and she says there is little they can do.

Just feeling fed up and miserable that I have had this problem since I was 22 I feel like an old woman.

BTW the doctor put me on Diclofenac which is really helping with the pain, but I obviously don't want to stay on that forever.

Also I just read an interested article on misalignment of the pelvis and how this is thought to be a possible cause of SPD. Also said that misalignment can cause babies to present posterior (both of mine were); breech; and with hand to face )one of mine was also like this)

Would be interesting to see the rate of SPD and postitional problems

RnBee - I went into the chiropractor on crutches and walked out carrying them. My physio was also sceptical, but I do believe a combination of the physio and chiropractor really helped. I still do get pains every month but nothing I can't cope with.

I had an xray and the gap was too small for surgery. When DH asked why one side of the SP joint was higher than the other by about half an inch on the xray the surgeon said it was "just an xray anomoly". The next week I saw the chiroprator for the first time and told him nothing. Within minutes he was examining me and said "the right side of your pelvis is about half an inch higher at the pubic joint! The ligaments had pulled me back, but in the wrong position. He set me straight.

HTH. Any questions just ask!

Good luck!

Just to say, I only got proper spd with my third baby (got it a little at the end of my pg with my second), and it was one of the hardest things I have ever had to do. You both have my full sympathies...

It did get much better postnatally, but was not back to normal, both in terms of pain and in terms of not being able to weight bear on one leg only - there was no way I would have taken two stairs at at time for example, and also, turning over in bed was still a specificif activity.

I found that acupuncture, while not curing it, did help with the pain quite a bit during my pg, while chiropractic, which I have had for 10+ years due to a wonky pelvis didn't do much for it.

However, postnatally, a few checks and a good chat between my chiro and pilates teacher identified that a lot of my problems were caused by my ad or abductors not working any more due to the spd.

I just started doing a few exercises to build them up (which was hard as they just weren't there anymore), and I found I had strength in that area aagin. I am still not exactly as I was before, but stacks better and dont think about it on a day to day basis. I think having spd stops all manner of muscles working properly, and you have to get the whole area ready to support your pelvis again.

I would recommend you see a chiro, and ask around if they have done any work with spd - mine hadn't, but said it was really interesting working with me and learning about it - or try a well qualified pilates teacher and see what they reckon...

Good luck - the horrible thing with spd is that it seems different for everyone, and no one really seems to understand it...

hth

I have every sympathy for you!

I fell 3 days before I was due to be induced and heard a crunch, I couldn't get back up (difficult anyway being 9 months pregnant!) and had to phone for help.

My mum is a sports and remedial massage therapist and made it slightly better but I also wore a huge elasticated strap that kind of held everything together, wasn't very attractive but it helped!

I was lucky that my pain went away as soon as I'd had the baby but I still get the occasional pain and my mum sorts it out.

Agree with katepol that strengthening the muscles round the area helps. My mum started me on an exercise program as the muscles were not strong after the baby and she didn't want me to start over-compensating and hurting other joints and muscles too.

One of the first things she checks for when a new client comes to see her is the pelvis alignment as this can cause all sorts of problems with other joints even if there is no pain there.

Thanks all

Hi Fio, yes I had a miscarriage a year ago (this could have possibly 'reawakened' the whole thing) although I haven't really noticed much of a difference in the intensity of the pain until yesterday. And, boy, did I notice it !
LilRedWG, that's incredible! Who did you see?! Who did you see?! Typical of the consultant saying it was an anomoly, not actually the fact that you have a problem! AArrgghh, that sort of thing makes me so cross. Did the manipulation at the chiropractors hurt? What sort of things did he do?

Katepol, what you say is extremely interesting. I have found that when I do core muscle training that the pain does improve. The only problem is that I have to be careful how much exercise I do because I also have diastasis recti, which is separation of the abdominal muscles caused by pregnancy. The muscles never joined back together again and too much ab work can cause the gap to get wider and/or a hernia God I sound sooo delightful, don't I.

Ideally I would have the diastasis recti operated on because it probably plays a big factor in everything else aswell as seeing a chiropractor. I just don't know how I can be out of action for 6 weeks or so...

Hi RnBee, I've had spd for a few months now, mine is no way as severe as yours, but I did find an interesting article on it which had some details about what chiropractors can do to help it, and a personal account of how it helped from the author of the website.

(Please disregard the fact that this site is about plus size pregnancies, as I'm sure you know, spd can happen to any size woman!)

link

RnBee - I saw a chap called Leslie Smith in Birmingham. Contact details below. Don't get me wrong - it wasn't perfect after the first trip and I still used my crutches for a while afterwards, especially if I was going more than 20 yards, but the wheelchair and crutches have been returned now and I went on a barge holiday last week and helped open the locks - something I never thought I'd be able to do again.

The Well Natural Health Centre
89, Institute Rd,
Kings Heath,
Birmingham,
B14 7EU
Tel: 0121 443 1580