Many women experience lower back, buttock and/or leg pain during pregnancy. Some also complain of unusual neck and arm pains. Whilst it is convenient to blame hormone changes and the shift in the body’s centre of gravity during pregnancy, it is my experience that women who complain of musculoskeletal pain during pregnancy usually had an underlying, asymptomatic mechanical dysfunction prior to falling pregnant. The changes that occur during pregnancy can be the “straw that breaks the camel’s back”.
Similarly women who report that “my stomach muscles have never been the same since I had kids” should be aware that they most likely had very poor muscle control prior to pregnancy and did very little to improve muscle tone after pregnancy! Unfortunately the glorious “6-pack-abs” sported by Madonna two months after the birth of her child is proof that it is not pregnancy alone that results in “jelly bellies”!
Tips:
- Pregnancy does not Cause pain……. It just highlights an existing problem.
- Pain during pregnancy can be treated at the time.
- It is often easier to get the problem sorted out before baby arrives as trust me, time for self disappears.
