HELP ADVICE ON SPD AND SCIATICA!

[reynold]

Hello, so I've had SPD and sciatica every pregnancy , this is my 3rd and it started super earlier around 14/15 weeks , now 26 weeks and I can barley walk to school. Night times are awful I'm suffering with super tingly hips, and stretchy legs which won't go:( has anyone ever had anything to help these? I can't cope it's unbearable! My children have had a day or two off school as I couldn't walk them there and I have no family, partner works from 5am too.

Your midwife should be able to recommend a physio who can treat it with manipulation. This is key - lots of non specialist physios won't touch a pregnant woman but one who specialises in SPD will manipulate / massage. Personally, I went from hunched over and barely walking, to walking out almost pain free after one session. Best £60 I ever spent. Good luck, it's horrible, you have my sympathy!

I agree, you need a physio to push your joints back into alignment and help loosen the tight muscles (massage - they'll also show you how to do it at home).

There's a list of recommended physios on the pelvic partnerships website:

https://pelvicpartnership.org.uk/recommended-practitioners/

I find it can sometimes take a couple of visits to get the balance right. And even with physio you need to be careful about not doing anything that will aggravate your joints and cause them to misalign again.

I’ve had this very recently and spoke to my midwife who referred me to physio at my local hospital. I was given crutches and exercises at first and then when it didn’t help, moved onto weekly massage apportionments at the physio.
This helped massively! I’m still in a lot of pain but can now put pressure on my leg and sleep again.

@Hiddenvoice , I had physio with both my previous pregnancies and they just gave me a belly band and crutches so I haven't asked again for it as it hurt more than anything them pushing my legs back everytime , I try get in the bath to help and boy that makes it worse!

I'm 31 weeks with 3rd baby, I cannot walk or sleep at the moment this pregnancy by far the worst one, they offered pyshio again but I cannot
Offers taxis every once a week to hospital so I'm just trying to get on with it it's so hard too I cry everyday due to this

I’m sorry you’re in so much pain. I would make contact with your midwife or if you can’t wait then your local maternity triage and explain about the pain, hopefully there is something more they can do.

My pain was awful and I felt like I cried constantly. It really made me hate the pregnancy. Once my baby was born the pain disappeared. I was able to walk with ease and could actually sleep again.

Can you afford private physio? Even just two sessions might help a lot. Crutches and a belly band aren't enough, you need the joints manipulating back into position and massage to loosen the stiff muscles. Your joints will probably slip and cause pain again but the more careful you are the longer the pain free time lasts.