If you had PGP, which persisted post-natally...

[TwoKidsStillStanding]

....was it ever cured? And, if so, how?

I had PGP while pregnant - I’d say moderate rather than severe as I never needed crutches. Everyone said it would disappear as soon as the baby was born.

Five months post-natally, it’s clear this isn’t the case. I can’t walk the kind of distances I normally would without being in significant pain by the end of the day. I can’t consider running. On a good day, I just feel achey. On a bad day, it’s quite painful.

Obviously, lockdown hasn’t helped in that I haven’t seen an osteopath since eight weeks post-partum. I am still breastfeeding and baby co-sleeps so I’m sure I’m not optimising things in terms of posture, etc. I try to wear a support belt for walking.

Are there any exercises I can do at home? Does it need physical manipulation? Did yours ever go away fully?

I had moderate PGP too in the third trimester. It was a bit better but certainly not all gone after birth - I think SPD tends to disappear quickly, but pain in other parts of the pelvis doesn’t. Mine really started to improve when DS breastfed less frequently after starting solids, so from 7 ish months. I’d have said I felt pretty normal by 1 year. Unfortunately it’s sort of come back in the last few months, at certain times of the month - pre-pregnancy i had a retroverted uterus and got period pain in my back, and I’m getting that again but it feels more like PGP sometimes. Could also be from carrying a 19 month old around though!

Look for another osteopath; mine's been seeing people. You could also ask GP for a referral to a women's health physio. Even if they're not doing F2F yet they might start soon.

Yes! But mine was caused by a traumatic instrumental delivery (had no PGP during pregnancy). The consensus is that they probably broke my coccyx but nobody is sure. I had physio after both deliveries, for about 6 months each time. In our area you can self refer if it’s a problem, but only very soon after birth, after that it’s a GP referral to a consultant gynaecologist and refer on to physio team. In this current climate, and if you can afford to, I would try to find a physio locally who works privately and on the NHS (if they are working). I had manual manipulation, and acupuncture (second time only). The manual manipulation was very very painful but it did fix it.

I had moderate-severe PGP from 14 weeks, and ended up on crutches. It initially disappeared after having my little boy, but returned a couple of weeks afterwards, I presume once the adrenalin had worn off! Due to compensating for my hip it also resulted in foot pain too.

I had physiotherapy for several months, which focused on strengthening my hips and glutes. Lunges, squats, bridges etc several times a week. It has taken a long time as I have only really seen a real improvement in the last couple of months, (18 months PP now) and now have more pain free days than painful ones. I do have to be careful though as long walks will flare it up, as will particular movements when I exercise. I don't know if I have permanent damage as I have never had any imaging.

Are you able to get a referral for physio?

Thank you - this is really helpful. I was referred to physio last September but never heard anything so have no great hopes of being able to access physio on the NHS! I think I should probably start with my GP but am assuming I’ll need to pay privately.

Annoyingly, the one local women’s physio I’ve found isn’t seeing people in person at the moment (which I do understand); it’s frustrating as I’d prefer to see someone who specialises in this area. The osteopath I saw previously helped while pregnant but the post-natal visit made no difference and he’s not currently seeing people in person.

I am wondering if my core is also a bit screwed from the section - not that I had great abdominal muscles before. The pain is all round my hips rather than the pubic area, if that makes sense?

My DS is 20 months now and I still suffer occasionally. Mine was very severe and I could barely walk with the crutches, I was referred to physio and it really did help. I can do mainly everything I used to do now but still have occasional bad days. I also found swimming massively helped me and prior to lockdown I went once a week. I think my hips and pelvis ended up getting weak during pregnancy as I had it quite badly very early on so did as little walking moving as possible as it was really painful x

I would highly recommend going to a women's health physio. You need exercises tailored to strengthening your core and they will be able to best advise you. A lot of physios also teach pilates if you can find a post natal class it might help a lot (and they will tweak poses for you).
In my case, I have to do a lot of work on my glutes, obliques and deep transverse abdominals.

Finishing breastfeeding is often a big improvement for many women, as your hormones settle. Hopefully that will be the case for you.

Thank you all - have managed to get an appointment with a women’s physio for next month. Hoping she can suggest some exercises!

I had severe SPD when pregnant with my DD. I wore a fetching girdle thing, on crutches by 16 weeks and could barely walk after. It eventually healed, but DD is now 12 and its now a monthly reappearance with my period. Dr blames hormonal changes now I'm 40 but doesn't offer much else to help.

Mine went completely when I stopped breastfeeding so I think there can be a link there - maybe the hormone relaxin? And I haven't had any issues since then. Mine tended to be worse in the week before my period so it definitely felt hormonal. Just sharing in case anything is similar for you. Hope it eases up for you soon.

Thank you - I am sure the breastfeeding isn’t helping but I’m reluctant to stop a) because it works well for us, b) it’s my one party trick when it comes to getting DC2 to sleep/comforting him, and c) I’m not convinced stopping would cure the problem, if you see what I mean, even though I suspect it would help.

What you say about other hormones is interesting as I’ve definitely noticed it more over the last ten days and have just finished my period (regular as clockwork despite EBF ). May keep a closer eye on this...

Oh sorry, wasn't suggesting you should stop - I breastfed dd until she was a toddler. Just a link to look into. Think hormones definitely play a role.