Hips

**Snacks** · December 8th, 2007, 07:46 PM

OK, so I realise I shouldn't be here as it has been a while since I had my baby

BUT...
My hips haven't been right since I had her. Yes, it is nearly a year. When they ached during pregnancy, I told myself it was all about the relaxin and the pelvis loosening up. Well, it feels like it hasn't 'tightened' so to speak.
After activity (sometimes climbing the stairs, but mostly I notice it after DTD... every time) I have pain in one or both of my hips. Like I have bent the wrong way or something. And sometimes if I've been sitting in one position for a while and get up, they are really stiff and achey.
Sorry for the winge... really I just want to know if I should see someone about this, or is this just one of those things that lots of people deal with after having a baby?

***Shell*** · December 8th, 2007, 07:49 PM

I'd see a doctor then mabey they'll refer you onto a physio (sp?). I'd think it just a post pg thing but nearly a year is quite a while.

paradise lost · December 8th, 2007, 08:01 PM

Hi Hun,

Is there any pattern to it whereby it is worse when you have your period? My hips were always clicky as i have shallow sockets, but they did get loose and achy at the end of pregnancy and i notice now that i get that same extra-losseness around AF every month. Sometimes it's not too bad and sometimes it's awful. My worse is that if the femur head slips back a tiny bit it catches my sciatic nerve on it's way through which gives me pain and weakness for a split second just before i lift my foot when i'm walking or running. Very annoying though not an injury.

There is a surge of relaxin every month when you have AF - that's why the cervix is generally lower when AF comes, because the ligaments which support it inside loosen. When you're PG the progesterone counteracts this until the end (when it feels like bubs is hanging right between your thighs...oh the memories lol) but with AF progesterone drops before you bleed. Most women don't notice before having a baby but because everything has already been loosened up once it doesn't take as much relaxin to slacken it up again after birth.

If you don't have it round AF time or AF hasn't returned yet, then maybe see your GP to make sure all is well. I had my pelvic measured before birth (externally with osteo-calipers) and though my hips look smaller because i've lost a lot of weight they are in fact physically broader and deeper than they were, birth changed them forever.

It could also just be that your tendons and ligaments in the pelvis are too tight. You can easily rememdy that with stretching exercises. A good one to try is to sit on the floor with your back straight and your legs bent with feet and knees together, then let your knees flop out to the side and press the soles of your feet together, pull your feet towards your crotch and relax as much as you can, allowing your knees to sink towards the floor. If you find it hard to keep sitting up straight you can sit against a wall - make sure your lower back is touching the wall and well-supported, and keep your tummy pulled in. There are a number of other hip stretches. Let me know if you're interested and i can post some more.

Bx

**Snacks** · December 9th, 2007, 10:45 AM

Thanks girls. Yeah, Shell, I figured it was taking a while to get better, but I'm a procrastinator from way back, LOL!
Thanks, Bec
Wow that's really interesting that pg and birth changed your hip measurements! Another one of those physical 'trophies' of childbirth, eh? I'd be really interested to know if mine are a different size now too, but I don't know what they were before and I'm carrying extra kilos now so they definitely look bigger, LOL!
TBH I haven't noticed if it is worse around AF... she is back, but it never occurred to me to think about whether the two are linked. Thanks - I shall pay more attention.
Certainly they are always stiff after DTD, so I know that's not AF related... I might try that stretch you spoke of and would love it if you could post some more.

paradise lost · December 10th, 2007, 07:08 AM

Ok, a few more.

To stretch the front of the hip - kneel on the floor (on a yoga mat or rug or folded towel is most comfy) and assume a down-on-one-knee pose as if you were proposing. Your front leg should be bent at 90 degrees with the foot flat on the floor, your other leg should be bent at the same angle with the knee and the foot on the floor - you can rest the top of the foot on the floor or flex the foot so it's just your tow that's down, it's up to you. Keep your back straight and your upper body erect - you can put your hands on your hips for balance. Now push the hips forward, bending the front knee more so that the angle of the front leg gets smaller and your other leg is flexing back at the hip (imagine a dancer doing the splits with one leg forward and the other back, you're doing towards this but just with the back leg) - you should feel the stretch in the front of the hip of the kneeling leg and down the front of the thigh. Now swap sides and stretch the other hip.

To stretch the outer part of the hip - stand up straight, feet hip distance apart. Cross the right leg behind the left, and put the feet together, so that the outside of your right foot is against the arch of the left foot. Now reach your right arm up above your head and tip slowly to the left. You are stretching from the false-pelvic arch (highest point of your pelvis) to just below the outside of your knee (iliotibial band). If you can't feel much you can push the hip out to the right to increase the angle more, but keep your abs pulled in and don't twist - you don't want to hurt your back.

To stretch the insides (should help with DTD) - sit on the floor, back straight, stomach muscles tight, and stretch your legs out forwards and to the sides as wide as you can - from above you look like a V - try to make the V as wide as possible. Once you are comfy, put your hands flat on the floor just in front of your crotch and slowly, keeping your back straight and your tummy firm, start to "walk" them forwards, so you're leaning more and more forward. You need to be tipping forwards from the hips, not the waist, so keep that lower back straight. You should feel the stretch strongly from the crotch all the way down the inner thighs. Don't worry if you can walk the feet very far at first - as you get more flexible you'll be able to - i know a girl who can walk them far enough that her chest rests on the floor between her knees! (i canNOT do that!). Good technique means you'#re stretching fully and you'll feel the benefit faster.

Another stretch which is really for the lower back but also opens the pelvis i like - kneel on the floor and sit on your feet. Fold forwards so your bum is on your feet (depends how thin you are - i nearly reach now but when i was heavier my legs couldn't fold that fully) and your tummy is on your thighs and keep your hands beside your feet. Rest your forehead on the floor if it reaches. This should stretch your lower back a bit. Now, put your hands under your shoulders and lift your chest off your thighs. Widen your knees a good bit and then, stretching your hands forward, lower yourself back down, rest your forehead back on the floor and push your chest towards the floor. You'll feel that stretch all up your back, through your shoulders, and along the insides and a little in the fronts of your thighs.

I hope some o those help

Bx