Diastasis Symphysis Pubis: When your pelvis splits during pregnancy

Diastasis Symphysis Pubis is when your pelvis splits at your symphysis pubis (the cartilage holding your pelvis together).  That split pelvis can cause intense groin pain and takes a long time to heal.  There are treatments that can help though.  Can you pelvis split during pregnancy?  Yes, but often it is not that simple.

Diastasis Symphysis Pubis

Diastasis basically means split.

Symphysis Pubis is the line of cartilage at the front of your pelvis.  During pregnancy, it relaxes to let a baby through, but it can relax too much and can split, leaving your muscles trying to hold your body together.

FYI, I know lots about pregnancy nurse as I’ve been an L&D nurse since 2001.

Split Pelvis during Pregnancy

At the age of 28 I had a nine pound baby. My previous one had been a pound and a half smaller than him. I thought I was going to have to push for the rest of my life to get him out. When he did come out, I noticed that things were “off” with my hips (and hips don’t lie).

My tailbone hurt like CRAZY when I was sitting.  Even after he was a few months old, I was having SO much pain while sitting.  It never even occurred to me that it was my pubis symphysis (at least not initially).

I kept thinking it would heal, but it didn’t seem to be healing at all.

Church was miserable.  For YEARS!

During that same time frame, I was trying to get pregnant — for about 4 years.

When I did —  the tailbone pain came back with a vengeance.  But, the further along in my pregnancy I noticed that things felt really “unstable” and that putting pants on was putting me to almost a 10 on the pain scale.  There were sometimes tears shed over that daily task.

Symptoms of Diastasis Symphysis Pubis or Dysfunctional Symphysis Pubis

I started to notice other things.

• A weird “electric” feeling pain in the middle of my pelvis (which I knew was my symphysis pubis)
• A nerve pain that ran down the inner part of my thigh (I had always felt sciatic pain run down the back of my thigh, and this felt weird — more “electric”)
• If I rotated my hips (like a hula hoop motion) things just started to feel more and more off.
• Stairs were hard and pushing beds at work was getting more and more painful.

I talked to my doctor about it pretty frequently, and I actually finally stopped working at around 30 weeks of pregnancy, just because the pains were so bad.

Because the majority of the pain was in my tailbone area, I never really thought of it being my symphysis pubis.  In fact, I even visited a physical therapist (because I also had a weird pain on my rib — which she finally diagnosed as scoliosis related to pregnancy — although I think it may have been from the symphysis pubis) after I was off work.  In fact, no one ever mentioned it.

Not one.

After that baby was born I was MISERABLE.  The shooting pains on my pelvis got worse and worse.  I went back to work after 6 weeks (I split my maternity leave since my husband was off for the summer) and after my shifts, I was SO miserable.  Much worse than regular days — which didn’t really make sense.

I had a friend who worked for a chiropractor, and she gave me a pelvic girdle belt.  That started to help a lot at work (mainly because scrubs weren’t tight enough to keep my pelvis together).  I was finally not dying.

My doctor sent me to a different physical therapist, who thought it was all due to my vagina and had me doing weird exercises and she was adjusting me in weird ways.  Finally, I just got grossed out enough, and things weren’t helping at all — I finally quit.

I saw a neurological pain doctor who gave me a steroid shot in my sacrum (which they do under fluoroscopy).  The first one worked pretty well, but the second one didn’t work at all — the pain was still there.

I then went to a chiropractor and did a bunch of session with him (dropping huge amounts of money) and that wasn’t helping at all either.

Finally — thanks to the internet, I realized that tailbone pain after pregnancy is VERY often caused by SPD.

I also noticed that when I did yoga (especially down dog — stretching out my glutes) that the tailbone pain stopped for a bit.  Also, during all of this my plantar fasciitis was horrible.  in the mornings I could barely walk.

After a long time of stretching and working on my plantar fasciitis, the tailbone pain started to resolve.  About the time that P turned 2 we moved to Arizona, and I was FINALLY able to sit in the car for long periods without crying.

However, she’s turning 8 next month and I still have it flare up every now and then, especially around my period I’ll get that extra boost of relaxin in my bloodstream and I’ll feel the twinges.

Symphysis Pubis Dysfunction is when your pelvis relaxes a lot (so hasn’t split entirely) — which is what I think I had.

But, even though my pelvis didn’t entirely split, it was still extremely painful.

Related Post:  Use soap to help restless leg

Groin Pain in Pregnancy

It is easier to pull a groin muscle when you’re pregnant because of your changing center of balance and “loose” hips.

However, it can also be your groin muscles & ligaments trying to hold your pelvis together — which it was in my case.  It feels different than a pull (although still very painful).  So, it’s something to keep an eye on.  Usually, a pelvic support belt helps that groin pain a lot (vs if you pulled a muscle, the belt won’t help).

FAQ’s about Groin/Pubic Pain in Pregnancy

How do you relieve pregnancy groin pain:

• You can use LIGHT heat (nothing much more than “warm” as the baby is very close to your pelvis) >> I have a whole post on heating pads in pregnancy
• Use a pillow between your legs when you’re laying on your side.
• USe a pelvic girdle after discussing it with your doctor.

What Causes Symphysis Pubis Dysfunction:

• Pregnancy (as far as I can tell that’s almost the only thing that causes it)
• Overweight
• If your baby is super low (called a low station)

The two sides of your pelvis are held together by a small band of cartilage — during pregnancy, your body releases a hormone called Relaxin that helps that tissue relax (and can also help your baby come out more easily).

That “joint” does have some flex to it normally, but during pregnancy it allows it to stretch a lot more.

It’s like a separation of the join without a fracture. It’s a fairly rare complication (although I think it’s not reported and most doctors ignore it as regular postpartum pain).

It helped me to think of it more as a dislocation of that joint — that allows extra movement in those areas. It sometimes causes pain in your lower back and sides (as your body tries to keep it together).

Symphysis Pubis Dysfunction Treatment

• Talk to your doctor — they might recommend a lower pelvic support.
• Doing Kegels and pelvic tilts will help to strengthen your pelvic girdle — the muscles surrounding your pelvis.
• You can’t actually strengthen the tissues that hold your pelvis together.  That is what it is.
• If some women have it bad enough, they’ll do a c-section, rather than have women push and possibly have the head bump it and hurt it further.
• You can go to a physical therapist that can give you exercises unique to your situation.

Exstrophy of the Bladder

Along with your pelvis having issues, it sometimes doesn’t support your abdominal walls and you can have issues with your bladder. This can lead to incontinence.

Perifit Review

I was recently sent a Perifit to try. It’s basically a video game you play with your lady parts. You squeeze to get around things or grab points.

I actually found it super helpful, because {are you ready for this} I think since I had kids I’d been doing Kegels all wrong?

Yes, I went to pelvic floor PT, but apparently I didn’t learn anything there. #totalfail

Doing Kegels without clenching my butt cheeks is something I’m working on — with Perifit’s help.

You can save 10% on it with code 3A0Y7JH102WG — I felt like it was reasonably priced.

FYI, you don’t have to charge it (that was super confusing for me) — it comes set to work for 5 years. I hope I’m fixed by then. 🙂

Pubis Symphysis After delivery

A lot of women heal pretty quickly after delivery and that hormone isn’t being secreted any further.

There is no reason to just muscle through the pain — you aren’t strengthening anything.  Some women even find a walker very helpful.

If it’s still hurting after a few weeks, definitely talk to your doctor

Continue to wear your pelvic girdle (although, you are also going to have to strengthen your own muscles — so you can’t rely on that forever) — also, tight pants often took the place of the girdle.

Ask to see a physical therapist

Sometimes there are people who specialize in this, so definitely ask around.

When I asked around, most doctors just said it would take a lot of time to heal.

And it sure did.

I just wish that I had known more about it when I was pregnant.  Not a single doctor mentioned it — and I work in labor and delivery!

I have a list of 5 things you can do to help your pelvic pain.  I hope they help you!  It’s certainly not fun!

Here are a few other smart articles I found about it:

• From What to Expect
• From Baby Center
• And my Favorite was from My Natural Baby

Don’t miss my FREE hospital packing list, and all of my other pregnancy posts below that!

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