Hip Pain, One of the Discomforts that often Occur in Pregnant Woman

When you are pregnant, it is common to feel a few unusual discomforts in your body. Your body will feel more tense towards the end of the pregnancy. Hip pain is one of the discomforts that often occurs among pregnant woman, especially during the third trimester.

You experience this discomfort because your body is preparing itself for labor. You can feel the strongest soreness and pain on the side where the baby tends to lie in your uterus.

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Causes of Hip Pain:

• Prepare for the baby moving through during labor.

When you are pregnant, your functional system in the pelvis tends to have some changes, to prepare for your baby moving through your body during labor. It will start with the automatic release of the hormones, in which these hormones are responsible for making the connective tissue relaxed and softer. 

Consequently, the joints and ligaments between the bones in your pelvis will begin to loosen and become more flexible, which results in your lower back pain, changes in posture, and a heavier uterus. The soreness or pain in your hip is unavoidable.

• Sciatica

What is sciatica? In general, sciatica or lumbar radiculopathy is the numbness, tingling, weakness, or pain anywhere along the sciatic nerve caused by compression of the nerve. It is a medical term used to refer to the increased pressure on the sciatic nerve. 

Your enlarged uterus may put pressure on the two sciatic nerves which run from the lower back to the feet. Therefore, you may feel pain, numbness or a tingling sensation in the buttocks, hips, and thighs. If you often feeling this, don’t worry! In fact, it is quite normal among pregnant women.

During your second trimester, you may suffer from round ligament pain. It leads to some sense of discomfort in the abdomen, hip, and groin area if you change your position or move quickly.

How to ease the hip pain?

By exercising! Who says pregnant woman cannot exercise? Practicing appropriate exercises can do you good as it will help to ease your pain. These are a few tips to ease the pain:

1. Elevate your hips above your chest level while lying on your back for a couple of minutes.
2. Have a warm bath or apply warm compresses to the sore area.
3. You can reduce the pressure on your hip during sleeping by sleeping on your side and keeping your legs and knees bent. Use pillows or blankets to support your abdomen and upper legs if necessary.

In some cases, your severe hip pain can be an indication of preterm labor – labor before the 37th week of pregnancy. So, PLEASE seek medical attention immediately if you are feeling one of these!

• Pelvic pressure that radiates towards the thighs.
• Abdominal cramping in the lower abdomen.
• Lower backache without relief when changing positions.
• Unexpected contractions every ten minutes.
• Pink or brown discharge from the vagina.

If you are feeling one of the symptoms above or very severe hip pain, please go to your doctor as soon as possible. Do not simply ignore it as you never know what’s going to happen.

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