The anticipation of welcoming your baby into the world is an exciting time! You knew you’d experience lots of “firsts,” but back pain? That probably wasn’t one of the “firsts” you’d envisioned about motherhood – or even pregnancy.
As your baby grows, you will begin to feel him moving, kicking and his hiccups, but the last trimester of pregnancy can be difficult for some. Your growing baby may mean that you experience symptoms like low back pain, pain in the buttocks or sharp pain running down the back of the thigh. This leads many women to seek sciatica pain relief in pregnancy.
A Better Way to Treat Sciatica Pain While Pregnant
Sciatica is any irritation to the sciatic nerve which causes pain or discomfort. Most often, this pain starts in your lower back area and runs down the buttocks and down the back of your legs. An irritated sciatic nerve can cause a sharp pain or create numbness and tingling that radiates down the back of your legs.
Many Kansas City women seek sciatica pain relief in pregnancy. Sciatica pain is a common complaint during the 3rd trimester.
Why Do Women Experience Sciatica Pain in Pregnancy?
If you happen to be one of the women who experiences sciatica pain while pregnant, here are a few reasons why:
- Fluid retention and gaining additional weight can put extra stress on the sciatica nerve near the place where it moves through the pelvis – squashing it (Yikes!)
- As your uterus gets larger it can irritate and put pressure on the sciatic nerve near the low back area.
- As your baby grows, your pelvis tilts forward and stretches the sciatic nerve causing sciatica pain.
- Your center of gravity begins to shift forward, especially during the 3rd trimester. This can pull on your lordotic curve (in your low back) and cause the muscles in your buttocks to tighten up – compressing the sciatic nerve.
Tips to Get Sciatica Pain Relief in Pregnancy
- Chiropractic Adjustments – Our Kansas City Chiropractors specialize in sciatica pain relief. Through chiropractic adjustments and physical therapy, a chiropractor restores motion to joints that are locked up or fixated. When the pressure on the sciatic nerve is relieved, it eliminates the irritation.
- Swimming – Get in the water! Not only is swimming an excellent low impact way to exercise and stretch, it also temporarily relieves your low back of the pregnancy weight.
- Sleep Right – The safest position for a pregnant mother to sleep is on her side. If possible, sleep on a firm mattress with a pillow between your knees and a small one below your belly. Another alternative is to use a long pregnancy pillow that keeps your spine and pelvis aligned.
- Gain Weight Slowly – Rapid weight gain before your body has time to adjust can put pressure on the sciatic nerve. Try not to use pregnancy as an excuse to eat anything you want.
- Try Pelvic Tilts – Also called Cat-Cow, these stretches can help to strengthen your abs and enhance spinal correction.
- Lay Flat on Your Back to Stretch – It’s not safe to sleep flat on your back while pregnant, but laying flat on your back for a short period of time on a firm surface can help to stretch your low back area – providing you with some sciatica pain relief in pregnancy.
- Get off your Feet – Standing for long periods of time puts pressure on your low back. An already irritated sciatic nerve can become inflamed if you don’t take a few breaks throughout the day.
If you think you may have sciatic nerve irritation in pregnancy, it’s important to check with a doctor. Our team of Kansas City chiropractors work closely with several OB/GYN clinics in the Kansas City area to provide pregnant women with natural pain relief during pregnancy.
Fulk Chiropractic’s doctors are available 7 days a week. If you think you may be suffering from sciatica, schedule an appointment online today.
Learn more about how chiropractic treatment can help with pregnancy pain.