SPD thread

[BoffinMum]

Have you had SPD during pregnancy? If so, I am wondering how bad your experiences were, and long it took you to get better after giving birth. I am suffering with it at the moment (29 weeks pregnant).

Thought this was about Power Rangers

Oh this is scary stuff, when exactly does pelvic pain become SPD?

I've got hypermobile joints and had pain with my last pregnancy but it wasn't all that bad. This time around it started up at 10 / 12 weeks and is quickly getting worse. Walking gets painful after 15 or 20 and it often kicks up a fuss from standing still too. Yesterday my pubic bone was really sore after sex, and it certainly wasn't particularly wild sex.

My midwife has given me the number of a specialised physio and I'm off to see her next week (when I'll be 21 weeks).

Yes, I had this from 15 weeks and it got progressively worse until i was on crutches and signed off from work at 32 weeks.
It has taken 15 weeks to feel like I am back to normal (which i think is pretty quick as i was advised to expect 6 months to recover).

(by normal I mean enough range of movement to get my foot high enough to get it in a stirrup and mount a horse - was very scared this would not be possible!)

Thanks for insights, everyone.

I have been referred to an obstetric physio, but all she did was look at me, give me a belt and crutches, tell me to do core stability Pilates exercises (which I always did anyway - I have a good core) and then she referred me to hydrotherapy for some silly resistance exercises, which has made things a lot, lot worse. She didn't lay on hands and do manipulation at all, which I find a bit worrying. I have made a formal complaint to the Chief Exec of the hospital, btw, as this is part of a long saga.

I have had some private chiro which means I can walk a little bit with crutches. If it wasn't for that, I don't think I would be walking at all.

I'm officially disabled now and can't imagine ever riding or skiing or hiking again myself, or indeed doing anything fun, but I really hope I do get better.

My heart just breaks for herbietea and I wish I could do something to help. What a desparate situation.

I asked the physio about recovery time and she seemed to think I would be better straight after the birth. Now I think that's a bit unrealistic. Nothing else gets better straight away so why should SPD be any different? It's interesting to know that even with just a few posts, people's experiences seem to marry up with what I would have expected.

Suffered badly during pregnancy (I couldn;t get about easily at all towards the end and getting in and out of bed and the car was agony but I never saw anyone about it) and in labour; I wanted an active birth but couldn't move my right leg at all towards the end.

My DS is now 11 weeks old, and I still suffer from it, although it's getting stronger every day. I feel it worse if I have done a lot of walking.

My abdominal muscle is badly split as well which isn't helping my core stability. I'm doing some core stability exercises and some targetting the ligaments which stabilise the pelvis as well as the usual pelvic floors.

I'm seeing the physio, but she hasn't done any manipulation either; I thought manipulation was the realm of osteopaths and chiropracters?

herbietea, sounds awful .

I felt instantly better after the birth, but once I was up on my feet more it came back with a vengeance.

I meant mobilisation, I think they are supposed to do that.

I had it from 24 weeks with Dc2, 20 weeks with dc3 and from 28 weeks with this pg.
Each pg has got progressively worse. I prepared with a lot of Pilates which i think stayed the crutches etc, but not for this one.

Only a Chiropractor (weekly) has enabled some functional abilities.

I have quite naturally mobile joints when not pg and my pelvis has recovered with each birth, within 6 weeks.

I have returned to running within 3 months of every birth without a problem.

I was referred to physio but didn't expect anything else other than stock advice and a fembrace. I don't know of anyone who has had actual physio treatment.

If you plan any more pregnancies then do consider Yoga/pilates to strengthen your core. It truly has made a difference for me for pg no.4.

Thanks herbietea. I had a look at the site and actually found it a bit depressing. ALl that suffering. It's insane we are all put through this.

My SPD kicked in at 17 weeks with my 1st pg. I self-referred to the physio, who gave me one or two exercises to do, a big tubigrip and a belt. I found a different belt online which helped much more to literally hold my pelvis together and allowed me to walk for longer before I felt like my hips would pop out of their sockets and end up in my arm pits! Oddly it got much better in the last month of pg, so that when I was trying to induce myself I could manage to walk for 20 mins, but never swimming - it would cripple me.

The SPD stayed with me long after giving birth. I BF for 13 months. It flared up really badly just after I stopped BF and then gradually got better - to the point at 18 months that I felt reasonably 'normal' again. Now, over two years since the birth I still have pelvis problems. I am naturally hypermobile, but my SI joint on the left still moves around and I can still get SPD pain on occasion - definitely when trying to move a heavy object with one foot.

I have been back to the physio, who basically told me not to come back unless I was in real pain. I've also been to an osteopath twice, who managed to 'right' me both times, to the point where I left feeling like I could walk in a straight line uninhibited. Unfortunately it only lasted a week or two, but well worth it just for that fleeting feeling! I've been doing pilates to try and sort out my core (and still very split abdominals), and finding that my muscle tone on my LHS is very weak. My glutes on that side are virtually switched off due to the position my pelvis is in, so I'm currently deciding whether to persevere with balance exercises on that side or fork out for the osteo again.

I'd love to feel that I could enjoy hiking and breaststroke again, but I'm not sure I ever will.

Oh shit.
Shall I just leap of a bridge now then? Oh, forgot, couldn't climb over the railing.

Didn't mean it to sound so , but I suppose I've come to terms with it. I've a feeling having had a CS lengthened my recovery since I didn't feel up to any exercise at all for a long time. I also wonder how much of this was actually present pre-pg and I hadn't noticed it. I do remember wishing the back of my hips would click on occasion.

I also know folk who HAVE recovered. A friend of mine had long-lasting trouble like mine, but then had a second child and a squatting birth, and that seems to have sorted things out for her, so all is not lost