Exercise and SPD

[Gigitree]

Hi everyone,

I’m looking for some ideas of what exercise I can do that won’t aggregate my SPD/PGP

Up until recently I was swimming a lot as my main form of exercise along with walking my dog.

Now I can’t go swimming thanks to Covid-19 and I’m finding dog walks really aggravate the pelvic pain.
I’m 29 weeks so I want to still try and be as active as I can for as long as possible, but I also don’t want to over do it and end up with crutches due to the SPD pain.

I’ve thought about yoga or Pilates but again I’m wary that I’ll end up doing more harm than good.

Thanks in advance 😊

I absolutely loved pregnancy yoga last time and a few ladies in my class had SPD - it might be worth contacting a yoga or pilates teacher who offer pregnancy versions to see if they are still teaching. My lovely teacher is running sessions via Zoom atm. Might be better than doing YouTube videos if you're not used to the practice and hurting yourself more!

Absolutely do not attempt yoga or Pilates over Zoom. Please. Sorry, but a friend of mine has been left with lifelong chronic pelvic pain due to an injury that she sustained doing pregnancy Pilates with mild PGP - and that was with an instructor present.

I’m really sorry, OP, but if walking is painful and swimming isn’t an option then there are very few options open to you. Sorry.

The advice I received when I had quite severe SPD was that the only exercise I should do was swimming and only front or back crawl (not the legs apart kick in breast stroke) As little walking or standing as possible.

The advice I had was to rest, rest, rest.
My physio showed me some ways to help myself getting out of bed and how to lay in bed but she told me I must rest. Very little walking or standing.
I ended up unable to walk before my baby came and afterwards for a month it was really difficult and extremely painful.
I agree with pp yoga, pilates is a bad idea.

You need to test properly do nothing that could aggravate it!

Seriously I occasionally get a twinge and my youngest is a teenager...

Thanks guys for your input! That’s kind of what I thought, I did see a physio early on and she recommended swimming so I’m a bit stuck now I can’t do that.
I just hate not being able to do anything but I guess I had better get used to it rather than make my SPD worse.

@PlumsInTheIcebox your poor friend that is awful! I will deffo avoid any online yoga sessions then!

I had physio for SPD during my pregnancy last year. It was pretty bad around a similar time to you, but with the help of my physio got much better relatively quickly and was fine by the end of my pregnancy.

Contrary to what a lot of people have said I was advised to keep moving gently. If you rest altogether everything ceases up a bit and this was definitely the case for me. I know some physios are offering sessions by Skype or zoom, so might be worth looking into that, but in the mean time this is the list my physio gave me (obviously scrub off swimming).

1. Sacroiliac belt
2. Apply heat to back, bum, hips (nowhere near baby or bump)
3. Yoga: child’s pose, pigeon, cat and cow
4. Swimming: crawl not breaststroke
5. Pelvic floor exercises 3 times a day.
6. Bounce on a big exercise ball
7. TENS machine. Again nowhere near bump and baby.
8. Pregnancy pillow between knees at night
9. Warm baths

10. Keep moving, but move slower, smaller steps.

I started with SPD early (around 14 weeks) and have found it's got better with pregnancy pilates (am 25 weeks now, still get twinges but it's at a manageable level) - I agree it might be risky to start now, but pelvic floor exercises and anything which strengthens your glutes and deep stomach muscles will be good as it helps stability. Try and get a physio session if you can for proper advice

And definitely pillow between knees at night, and ankles too if need be - you ideally want to keep your legs equal distance apart

Tara Lee has a pregnancy yoga dvd that has modifications for PGP. It's very gentle so I don't think you'd be at risk of injuring yourself doing it. I used that after trying an actual pregnancy yoga class which would leave me unable to walk.

Thank you everyone for your advice.
I’d like to try and keep moving as much as possible without over doing it, so might just do some gentle stretches.

@Discoballs I’m curious about your physio saying pigeon pose was ok as I would have thought that would be a big no no. I find that pose really helpful for tightness in my hips, but I worry it could do some damage to my pelvis.

The general 'rules' are not to open your legs wider than is comfortable and to keep your legs symmetrical, so I wouldn't be doing pigeon. Maybe a very gentle reverse pigeon...?

Maybe it's a modified pigeon pose? I don't do yoga usually. I had to start on all fours. Slide one leg in front and across the other and then stretch the other leg back. It felt like the stretch was lengthening rather than pulling anything outwards. It really helped.

A floor-based pigeon pose is most definitely one to avoid. It is a very strong hip-opener and is a classic example of a pose where relaxin could cause permanent damage to an already unstable pelvis.

There is a chair-based modification which is safer, however.