Pelvic Girdle Pain In Pregnancy? Try This...

Are you experiencing Pelvic Girdle Pain (PGP) during pregnancy? Here are some ways you can adapt your yoga practice…

While not harmful for baby, PGP can cause a range of uncomfortable symptoms, such as pubic pain, hip pain, groin pain, and lower back pain. 

It can be worse when standing on one leg, walking, going up and down stairs, or moving the legs to get in and out of the car.

I would always recommend a pregnant student experiencing PGP sees their GP and a physio first to get a proper diagnosis and treatment, there are still many ways we can support them in class, focusing on creating stability in the pelvic girdle to offset the impact of relaxin, which the body produces to soften the ligaments in preparation to birth our babies.

Here are five ways I like to support my students with PGP in their yoga practice:

1: Less External Rotation

Swap poses with a lot of external rotation, such as sukasana and baddha konasana, for those with more internal rotation, such as virasana, kneeling on a bolster, hugging the bolster with the legs to connect to the midline for stability in the pelvis.

2: Build Hip Stability

Swap deep squats (malasana) for chair pose with a block between the thighs, or if you’re still comfortable on your baby, bridge pose pulses with a block between the thighs. Again the block helps generate midline stability, and chair can help build strength in the legs for labour and birth.

3: Adapt Your Core Work

Swap bird dog for ‘block’ dog arm raises: instead of lifting alternate arm and leg at the same time, get creative. From all fours, place a block or cushion between the inner thighs. Inhale to prepare, exhale squeeze the block, lifting pelvic floor and gently hugging baby to spine, while lifting alternate arms. This is a great one for challenging the core and pelvic floor: try to keep everything else as still and stable as possible!

4: Shorten Your Stance

Shorten your stance in standing postures. Relaxin can make us feel like we can go deeper into poses, exacerbating instability. Keeping the feet closer together can help mitigate this.

5: Embrace Chair Yoga

Use a chair for support during standing postures such as warrior 2 and side angle. Adapting our practice during pregnancy doesn’t make it less valid; it means you’re learning how to truly listen to and honour your body, which is a skill that will serve you so well during pregnancy and postpartum.

Enjoyed reading? Practice pregnancy yoga with me every Tuesday, 6-7pm, at the Lifecare Centre in Stockbridge. For more information and booking, click here.