question for SPD sufferers

[laksa]

Hi guys,

I think I may have the beginnings of SPD but am not sure. I went to my pregnancy yoga class on tuesday and on the wed for a long walk with dh. On the thursday morning I woke up and could feel pain in my pelvic region, a bit like it was bruised. This morning lifting my right leg to put my clothes on felt uncomfortable. Is this the start of spd or have I just overdone the exercise?

I am also worried that the yoga poses we are doing in class will make this worse as we do lots of wide leg stance/ opening of the pelvis/squatting type manoeuvres. Should I stop doing these?

thanks xx.

sounds like it could be the start of SPD, so you need to be more careful from here on in & avoid things that cause pain. Squatting & wide leg stuff will all aggrevate it, as will too much walking. Make sure you sit down to put your clothes on, as that helps.

If it's getting worse mention it to your m/w she's probably refer you to the physio.

The only good thing about SPD is it gets you out of the hoovering & pushing supermarket trolleys for the next few months

I'm 24 weeks and am really enjoying my antenatal yoga, I wake up really happy the next day, guess I will have to go swimming instead Thanks for the replies x.

Hi Laksa

Definitely sounds like SPD - keep your knees together as much as possible. Lady-like maneouvres out of the car, knees together to roll over in bed, sit down to dress and although swimming is ok, do not do breast-stroke!!

Sitting on a birthball is very comfortable though!

HTH

I had SPD in both pregnancies, so I sympathise.

Tell your MW asap, so you can get physio etc.

As for yoga, go, but tell your yoga teacher you have pelvic pain and he/she should be able to sort out some alternative exercises for you.

I also found swimming excellent for my SPD (especailly at the end when I looked and felt like an obese hippopotamus)

thanks guys, will tell my yoga teacher. Am seeing my midwife in a couple of weeks so will let her know then. Do you know if this will affect me having a home water birth? It is bearable at the moment so I don't want to do anything that will make it worse...will be a new experience to behave like a lady

CAT me - I'll send you a piece I wrote on it (I had it in both pregnancies). And yes, don't do those yoga positions.

lol Laksa - as a convent school girl I am finally doing what the nuns told us all to do! I get this pain too when overdoing things/at night in bed and my GP says SPD. I spoke to the local yoga instructor today who just said don't do the squatty stretchy things - tbh the breathing and relaxing is I am sure just as useful. Good luck!

Well I kept my legs together all weekend, pain eased off and then I spent all day sunday shopping and its come back a bit so will use that as an excuse to take it easier I guess, god I hate feeling like an old woman!

I don't have CAT motherinferior, could you email the piece to me? my email is [email protected].

Thats a relief about the waterbirth as I it was the one thing about giving birth I was looking forward to!

Thanks again guys,
xx

I found that walking was the hardest thing so dont over do it on that score. Yoga was definitely out as was swimming which hurt too. Still as long as I didnt walk anywhere it was fine (good excuse to sit in the garden reading!).

I ended up on crutches, but again not as bad as it sounds, the crutches helped lessen the impact of walking which really caused the pain. Guaranteed a place on the bus when 8 months pregnant and on crutches!

Hi I have very bad SPD and am so far only 22 weeks so you have my every sympathy! Defionately heed all the advice given here and take it as easy as poss.

I don't drive so have to walk everywhere and push the pram at the same time as carrying ds when he gets tired walking and it is really doing me no favours. Our local maternity physio dept has been shut down so I'm stuck with no belt - ifyou can get a referral definately take it and they should offer you a belt which I found worked wonders.

I was speaking to someone today about it and they basically implied that I was making a big deal about 'what is basically a natural thing' for women, even got the old chestnut 'pregnancy isn't an illness'.

Why is it that just because it is natural for women to have babies men (not dh thank god) think it is easy and without risk. I got very and started spouting about risks of death in childbirth, and how if men gave birth we would never have this debate over epidurals etc. By the end he looked quite scared. At least I got to offload on someone

Am going to the doctors on wednesday and will see about a referral.

Do you think I could go swimming if I only used my arms and not legs...would be quite a good workout for upper body and would come in handy if the crutches are needed. Can you tell I am in the energy filled 2nd trimester and for some bizarre reason I am feeling much more positive today...was crying my eyes out at the weekend all over my poor dh. We have alot of decorating and building work to get done before the LO arrives and I was just feeling very overwhelmed by it all.

I laksa, sorry to hear you've got this...tis not pleasant. It ususally goes straight afterthe birth though (mine was gone next day), so at least it is unlikely to be permanent.

Like others have said, i find walking hard and in the last few weeks of previous pg, could hardly walk at all, so dont feel bad about resting lots. Also flat shoes better for me...heels a no-no.

Re swimming...avoid breaststroke as it is opening the legs wide that causes pain and damage but crawl and just doggy paddling fine.

This website is good for advice too.www.pelvicpartnership.org.uk/3451.html .

Also if you do a search on mumsnet thaere is lots of advice.

I found accupuncture really helped me too. Where are you based...i can recommend someone in York if thats any use??

laska, I meant to add, it might be easier for you to get a referral from your midwife. I have seen a doctor twice with seperate episodes of SPD and both times they didn't even know what I was talking about!

I had SPD from yoga, it is really important that you tell your yoga teacher, and tell your midwife. Another trigger can be swimming, so don't do breast-stroke, only front crawl so your legs go up and down, and are not spread apart. Take care now, and the symptoms should ease, if you ignore them, it can get really painful as mine did. Good luck!!!

Laksa swimming is fine as it is very low impact. I also joined a pilates class where luckily the instructor had taught other women with SPD so showed me how to modify the exercises to suit me. Can you speak to your yoga teacher about it?

I would advise getting a support band too, they can be very uncomfortable at first, but really seemed to help me.

I also agree that lots of rest is vital and to be concious of ou movements, ie. getting into and out of bed or a car, try keeping your legs closed , sitting down, and swinging in rather than just clambering in.

I can very much empathise with anyone who has had this. Mine got so bad I couldn't walk upstairs and had to inch up on my bum.

And definitly be sure that the midwife when you deliver knows about it. Mine ignored me and DP telling her about it, and all the notes on it,and strapped me to a monitor, then at the pushing stage told me to lie on my back, clutch my knees and spread my legs
Bad advice for any woman, let alone one with chronicled SPD.
Gladd I was assertive enough to say no, but I bet many women in the throes of labour would just take the 'experts' advice.

Hi Laksa - I'm 24 weeks, and suffering with spd too - am on crutches already (boo).

I've been advised that squats and anything things where my knees are apart is a no no (can't do it anyway, but that's beside the point) - as far as swimming goes, then I've been told it's ok, but to not do Breastroke legs - I do a sort of composite stroke - breastroke arms and front crawl legs. Swimming is great as I can appreciate the buoyancy!

Don't wait for a couple of weeks to see your midwife - go and see her asap and ask for a referral - there may be a waiting list - don't allow yourself to be fobbed off as there are an awful lot of mw who know nothing about it.

You can get a support belt from mothercare - they're £10 each. My physio has been told she's not allowed to give them out anymore, so I bought my own!

It's a pain, but try to be ladylike when you're doing stuff - and don't do too much.

Don't pay any attention to the idiots who say that it's nothing - they obviously haven't experienced it!

HTH - take care ....

Laksa, I had severe SPD and was not allowed a water birth as the midwives said that if they needed me out of the pool in a hurry I couldn't manage it, so make sure your pool is easy access and that you talk to the midwives before hand.

Laksa had a similar experience when a male friend of my DH (who doesnt have children) told me that pregnancy is natural and any symntoms women have are psychosomatic! Still get really angry when I think about it - I was sick as a dog for first 3 months and on crutches with SPD for the final 3 months.

urrgh drives me mad when people pronounce about things they know NOTHING about. Glad you offloaded on that person!

thanks for all the responses, why is it that so many people haven't heard of this condition before. Imagine how many women of our mothers/grandmothers generation just put up with these symptoms

Check out the osteopaths near you and see if ther's one specialising in pregnancy care. I'm due in august and have been seeing an osteopath regulalry from about 20 weeks for what was apparantly quite mild (but very painful!) spd. She's worked wonders for me - almost all through deep massage rather than scary manipulation and she only charges half price during pregnancy. Seriously it's made a real difference.

Yeah mine's pretty bad at the moment, can't walk very far, and everywhere veeeerry slowly. I mentioned it to my consultant, he suggested paracetamol.

I don't think he really understood.