Pregnancy and Posture: Easing Back, Hip and Pelvic Pain with Simple Yoga Practices
Welcome
Hello and welcome to my blog pages, where you will find information on all things yoga for pregnancy and women’s health.
This post is specifically for pre and postnatal women. I am going to cover pregnancy postural changes, how tight glutes contribute to pelvic, hip, and back pain, and finally, the importance of your big toes.
Postutal Changes in pregnancy
In pregnancy we experience HEAPS of changes. Hormones and emotional shifts are a plenty BUT we also see huge PHYSICAL changes. We experience an increase of the hormone in relaxin in our first trimester. This hormone is designed to allow our muscles and joints more length and mobility to adapt to our growing baby, it’s a pretty amazing thing. However it can cause instability and pain in joints that were already taking the preassure due to our daily life styles of prolonged sitting and habitual holding patterns like holding your bag on one shoulder.
So we have joints that are less stable. We also have a rib cage that has to expand and open from the front to allow space for your baby. This causes a squeezing through the back of the rib cage as it opens at the front.
At the same time our pelvis starts to tuck under to provide additional support to our abdominals causing the famous pancake or mum bum. (Lets also note MANY of us already have this tuck BEFORE we become pregnant it’s a common holding pattern we seem to have in the western world due to the sedentary nature of our jobs)
In addition to this you loose tension in your abdominals as they also lengthen with the help of the lovely relaxin. Abdominal muscles move away from the tummy button down the mid line to allow extra wriggle room for your baby. It is not actually your muscles moving but the connective muscle tissue called the linia alba that stretches. This is called diastasis recti. And is the subject for another blog post.
It’s all incredible your pregnant body is awesome. It is just that Pregnancy Posture often highlights holding patterns in our bodies that end up causing us pain.
The good news? With the right exercises, you can prevent long-term back, hip, and pelvic pain.
The Glutes: More Than Just Your Bum
If you bottom/Glutes are tight it impacts the whole system. A tight bottom usually means tight hamstrings, claves and tight back muscles. It is really important you know that your muscle can be tight AND weak. Quite often tight muscles are not as strong as they could be. In order to be as strong as possible muscles need to find their FULL length (ie stretch) in order to properly contract.
SO if you tuck your pelvis and squeeze your bum this is for you!
A Simple Glute Stretch for lower back and hip pain in pregnancy
Find 4 point kneeling
place one knee on a block or cushion
Place all weight into the leg on the block
Rock your weight back (if you don’t get any sensation in the bottom try a very slight tuck of your tail bone)
Inhale and exhale. The longer you are here the more you feel your glutes muscles lengthen
This opens the posterior chain beautifully, supporting postnatal recovery. It is also a really great movement for birth preperation.
Opening the back of the pelvic floor offers more space for the pelvis to open during labour.
I have an online Bio Mechanics for Birth course that you can access here. It has a workshop telling you all you need to know about physiological labour and 4 short practices to get you ready for birth. Suitable for women from their 2nd trimester.
The Big Toe: The Forgotten Hero
Quite often in pregnancy our weight distribution changes too! Our femur bones rotate to a turned out position so our feet come into a two to two angle. (again hello tight butt) this can also encourage us to weight bare more on the outsides of our feet. And over time we stop putting weight through our big toes. This is the MOST COMMON habit I see in women. ALL women. And so it is not just a result of pregnancy. This stance causes a pinching in the bottom and the back and so could be the cause of your lower back, hip and pelvic pain.
How to Reconnect with Your Big Toes
Being really cautious of your weight through your feet when standing is a good way to combat this habit. Think weight through ALL the foot. Big toe across to little toe down to the outside of the heal and across to the inside of the heal. Another thing you can do is get a spikey ball and roll it under your feet to wake the whole of the bottom foot up.
Keeping big toes down in forward folds, chair pose and squat can help to get your bottom muscles to lengthen too.
In summary yes your body does change shape in pregnancy. This is just the tip of the iceberg so to speak when it comes to physical changes but you are not powerless. Knowledge is Queen to avoid pain both during and after pregnancy and that is where movement professionals can help!
If you are suffering with back, hip or pelvic pain in pregnancy and need help you can access my online course here. This course explains typical postural habits that I see every day when working with women who have back, hip and plevic pain in pregnancy and who present with pelvic floor dysfunction after birth. This course is that starting point to give you the knowledge and some really simple movements to ease your pain and begin to heal your body.
Check out my free pregnancy yoga sessions to start improving posture, core strength, and glute activation today.
P.S. Don’t Forget the Teeth!
Pregnancy can affect your teeth and oral health. They may feel softer, weaker, or even start breaking. You’re not alone—I’m right there with you!
