Pelvic discomfort/SPD and swimming

[thomasina1]

I am 25 wks pregnant and have started to experience some pain in the pelvic area, not sure whether this could be SPD? Anyway this has cooincided with me starting regular swimming last week... breaststroke! Am gutted that I may not be able to continue as I want to be doing some form of exercise but I've a feeling that the swimming probably isn't helping...

Any thoughts?? I have a midwife appt tomorrow so will mention it but as my midwife has a tendency to be over-cautious I'm sure she'll probably just say stop swimming so I'd welcome other opinions.

Breaststroke is really bad for pelvic problems - sorry!
Any chance you could do the crawl, even just legs with a float?

Thanks Nicky, had a feeling that would be the answer! I did try just legs straight out with a float this morning but I think that may be aggravating the problem too... will have a break for a few days maybe then try again.

Hi Tomasina

I had some problems with my hip for a few weeks (around 32-35 weeks preg) and walking and swimming (front crawl) made it much worse. It's worth trying to see the obstetric physio - your mw can refer - you to see if they can help (with manipulation and/or exercises and advice on posture). I rested almost completely for a couple of weeks which was frustrating at the time but now I'm completely better and walking and swimming again. I think it also helped that my baby's head moved a bit further down in my pelvis which took the pressure off.

I was told by midwife at booking in appointment to avoid breast stroke when pregnany. Loosening of ligaments means that you can over extend during breast stroke kick. If problem does turn out to be SPD see a physio to get your pelvis realigned. I suffered with SPD during first pregnancy and it started up earlier this pregnancy. Saw physio 3 weeks ago and she fixed me. I'm now 29 weeks and enjoying regular swimming (crawl only!).

Good luck

I had spd pretty bad. The only thing I foud which really helped was rest- swimming would have made mine terrible for days. You may be different though, but generally, let your body guide you. If you feel any pain or soreness, that's when to stop.

I've got bad SPD. Before I got pregnant I used to swim a lot, mainly breaststroke. The physio I saw for SPD recommended going to the pool and bobbing about a bit, but no breaststroke - I've only made it to the pool once, but just being in the water was lovely.

I held onto the side and kicked gently, and did a few lengths of slow crawl, some breastroke arms, and some just waggling my legs crawl-like with floats under my chest. If you aren't used to swimming, I'd guess you need to be extra-careful not to overdo it (I used to do 60 lengths, but only did 10!), but they seem to recommend it in general for pregnant women.