How to Relieve Pelvic Pain in Pregnancy
- Melissa Hines
- Nov 11
- 4 min read
Updated: 6 days ago
by Alicia Jeffrey-Thomas, PT, DPT
Pregnancy can bring on a whole host of changes to your body, and it’s not uncommon to experience pelvic pain while pregnant. This can present in a multitude of ways including sacroiliac joint pain, pubic symphysis pain, hip pain, low back pain, tailbone pain, vaginal pain, etc. Though pain is a commonly reported symptom, it’s not something we should normalize. There are plenty of things we can do in pelvic floor physical therapy to alleviate pain and keep you moving throughout your pregnancy.
Use External Supports to Relieve Pelvic Pain in Pregnancy
Depending on what type of pain you’re experiencing, there are a variety of different external supports that can be worn to provide relief. Here are a few examples:
Hip & Belly Support Belts: Maternity support belts provide a little bit of a lift under the belly to offset some of the pressure being placed on the body. It can be used to help with pubic symphysis pain, back and SI pain. The relief can be pretty immediate with the right supportive device. The downside is they can sometimes feel a little bulky. If you’re strictly dealing with SI joint pain, something like the Serola belt might be a good option (and this is also a great option when you’re not pregnant as well). It’s worn much lower on the hips to provide compression and stabilization during use.
Tape: Different types of athletic tape like kinesiotape can be used as a low-cost way to create support all around the body. In my practice I’ve used it to create a belly support sling, provide abdominal cueing to reduce a diastasis, stabilize a grouchy SI joint or low back, and even in the neck and shoulders. There are tons of brands from KT tape, Kinesio Tex Gold, etc and some people report doing better with some brands vs others due to skin sensitivity and preference.
Pelvic Supports: If you’re experiencing pain due to vaginal heaviness and pressure in pregnancy, then it might make sense to try something with perineal support. Most devices in this category are worn like underwear and provide an extra upward lift to the pelvic floor/perineum.
Learn Stabilization Training to Relieve Pelvic Pain in Pregnancy
The ligaments of the pelvis get looser and stretchier to accommodate the body changing as the fetus grows. This usually means that the muscles have to compensate and they may not be doing that in the most optimal way. Sometimes that means we need to strengthen muscles in the hips, deep core, etc. and sometimes (see below), it means certain muscles can get too tense from trying to hold the weight of the world on their shoulders and we need to work on getting them to relax.
When things are really flared up, we can use gentle isometric exercises to activate the muscles without moving them through a large range of motion. I think about these exercises as “reminding your muscles to do their jobs”, but isometric muscle contractions can also be pain relieving in and of themselves. One of my favorite series of isometrics are what I’ve dubbed the “5/5/5”. It’s five exercises, five repetitions each, held for five seconds each. You want these to be gentle and pain free. I will usually cue for 50% effort. You can repeat these 3-5 times per day.
Squeeze something between your knees. This can be a small ball, a yoga block, or even your two fists.
Push your knees apart. You can use a belt or your hands to create resistance so your legs don’t actually move.
Contract your deep core. Take a deep breath in and as you exhale, think about hugging the baby up and in with your lower stomach muscles.
Sit in front of a table or desk with your hands underneath and press upward as if you were going to lift the table (you should feel this in your core).
At that same table or desk, with your elbows bent, try to pull it towards you (ideally the table is heavy enough that it won’t actually move).
Manual therapy techniques can help relieve pain in pregnancy
Muscles can also get tight and tense up in response to pain. Plain and simple, sometimes when something hurts, a hands on approach is a fast way to get some pain relief. When someone is having pelvic pain in pregnancy, we will typically use manual therapy techniques to help tense muscles relax or elongate. This can include techniques like myofascial release, trigger point release, dry needling, and more. Depending on what’s driving the pain, we might work on the muscles around the hip, the inner thighs, the glutes, hip flexors, and quads as well as muscles in the low back that might be working overtime as your body changes throughout pregnancy. Additionally, the pelvic floor muscles are having to adapt to a rapidly increasing load as your body grows, which sometimes can make them tighten up and become painful. When appropriate, we do internal pelvic floor release to improve muscle mobility and blood flow.
If you’re having pain in pregnancy, you don’t have to just “deal with it”. At Wellest, we’re all about helping you stay active and pain free throughout your pregnancy and set you up for success in the postpartum period. If you’re dealing with any pelvic floor symptoms, reach out to us at Wellest to set up an appointment today!