Abdominal/Pelvic Pain in Pregnancy and What To Do About It

Are you or have you experienced some pelvic or abdominal pains during your pregnancy?

It's scary right?

I hear ya, but don't worry you're not alone.

Did you know that over half of women will suffer with some kind of abdominal or pelvic cramps/pain during their pregnancy? During early pregnancy it can be especially worrying as the common fear is that it is one of the first signs of miscarriage. If you are spotting as well it can be terrifying!

The good news is that usually miscarriage is NOT the reason for abdominal cramps in early pregnancy. Actually cramps can be brought on by the embryo embedding itself in the lining of the uterus.

Later on in your pregnancy, around the middle to end of the second trimester and into the third trimester you may feel a different kind of pain through the lower abdominal area, the pelvis and the groin. This pain can be a lot more severe and feel like shooting pains across your belly and into your groin.

Although this can be extremely painful, (I could hardly walk when it happened to me), it is not something you need to worry about because it is fairly easy to treat. These shooting pains across the pelvis and lower abdomen are called Round Ligament Pain.

Round Ligament Pain is caused by the amount of stretching that the ligaments have to go through to support the weight of your enlarging uterus. The uterus is normally the size of a pear, but as it grows the extra weight and mass pulls on the ligaments so that they become long and tight like rubber bands. The ligaments then pull on nerve fibers and sensitive structures which cause pain.

The sharp shooting pains are caused by ligament spasms, usually on the right side as the uterus will normally roll over to the right.

To ease Round Ligament Pain:

- Always roll onto your side and use your arms to lift you from lying to sitting, lifting your head up last.

- Keep your legs together and avoid lunging positions which will stretch the ligaments even more. eg. when getting in and out of the car turn your back to the seat and sit down on the seat sideways. Then swing your legs in together.

- To ease acute attacks of RLP try the "hip hitch exercise". Standing next to a wall or a chair, gently shift your weight to the leg that is opposite to the side where you feel the pain. Lift your foot off the floor on the side that hurts by hitching your hip up in the air.

When To Seek Medical Help:

If you are suffering from any of the following, contact the emergency department immediately:

Fever

Chills

Difficulty walking

Pain when passing urine

Did you find this post helpful?

Have you or are you suffering with anything similar in your pregnancy? Post your comments below as your experience may just help another mum in need!

Round Ligament Pain

I thought it was my abs splitting but turns out my abs are fine, (thank god!). What I was experiencing was round ligament pain.

Why midwives never tell you these things is beyond me. I saw my midwife for my 24 week checkup and mentioned I was feeling some pain in my lower abs and groin. Her advice was that I shouldn't be engaging my tummy muscles at all. Ever. WTF? Can you imagine what a mess my core would be in if I never engaged my muscles? Apart from the fact that I teach pilates and Body Balance weekly and I train at least 3 days on top of that, how on earth would I be able to support my own weight without engaging my core?

Anyway, I just agreed with and did my own research.

Round Ligament pain occurs around the 2nd trimester and can carry on all the way through the third trimester too. The round ligament is the ligament that attaches to your hip bone to hold the uterus in place. The ligaments must stretch and grow to support the weight of the baby, (you can't build a house on matchsticks!), and can grow from around 2 inches to 12inches.

This stretching can be accompanied by sharp pains or twinges in the groin. Once I'd ruled out my abs splitting I thought I'd strained my abs with too much training, but then I realised that I could still train and do most things without any pain at all. The pains would occur with getting up out of bed, getting in the car and if I was trying to do a lunge or any exercise where I would need to stretch the groin area. It wouldn't last long, just a few seconds but it was sharp but not unbearable and went away pretty quickly. Still I didn't want to have this my whole pregnancy so I took some steps to remedy it.

First off I took 2 days off of training, to allow any additional strain on the muscle tissue to repair. This worked well and I reduced the pain by about 70% just from that.

Secondly when I went back to training I focussed on getting my glutes fired up to support my pelvis. Bridges would take the weight off the ligaments so I designed a workout around these and some other glute firing exercises.

Third, I went swiming. I found the water really helped as it supported my bump and took pressure off the ligaments whilst I worked out. Breast stroke worked the gluteus medius which stabilises the pelvis and helped stretch out my groin, gently, without pressure. It also allowed me to focus on my posterior chain which is essential in supporting a pregnant posture.

These things reduced the pain to around 5% of what it was originally. Lastly I learned to roll onto my side to get up and to sit down sideways in the car seat before swinging my legs in together, to avoid loading the ligaments in an already stretched position.

Another pregnancy lesson learnt the hard way! But I'm glad I could share it in case you suffer the same thing!