Sandra and her pregnancy pains
Sandra, a 36-year old first-time mother, was 6-months pregnant when she started getting a mild pain in her right buttock. She didn’t think much of this but soon began to get pain in her groin when walking. After a couple of weeks Sandra’s problem had progressed such that she was having trouble turning in bed at night and could not walk for more than a few hundred metres before the pain became unbearable.
She decided to consult her GP who diagnosed ‘symphysis pubis dysfunction’, prescribed paracetamol and referred her for physiotherapy. Sandra was given an elasticated support that wrapped around her waist and told to do numerous exercises to improve the muscles around her pelvis. Because of the pregnancy she was unable to take any stronger pain killers than paracetamol, which weren’t really helping, and the exercises seemed to be making the problem worse. At this point she decided to consult an osteopath.
On examination Sandra was seen to have an uneven pelvis, possibly due to the baby’s position in her womb. This caused one side to be restricted and the other to be relatively hyper-mobile. It was this side that was causing all the pain as it was absorbing more pressure than her stubborn left side. Sandra was given a few sessions of manipulation (which is completely safe in pregnancy) to free off her stubborn left side, and soft-tissue massage to ease the pain on her right, along with instructions to ice and stretch both sides. By the time of the birth Sandra was almost pain free so she was able to get around happily and prepare the house for the new arrival. She was seen another couple of times after the birth to completely relieve the symptoms and help ease a few other aches and pains from the ordeal of the delivery.