Pregnancy changes your body. Your hips feel it long after.
What's really happening and when to talk to a specialist, according to Dr. Busko.
Carrying a baby is one of the most physically demanding things the human body can do.
For many mothers, the hip pain doesn’t stop at delivery. As Dr. Morgan A. Busko—herself a mom of four—says, "Hip pain during pregnancy and postpartum is very common due to the physical demands of carrying a growing baby, as well as the miraculous pysiologi9c changes that allow the growth to happen."
Throught pregnancy, especially the third trimester months, that added load places sustained pressure on joints, muscles, and connective tissue throughout the pelvis, added Dr. Busko.
The hormone that helped deliver your baby can leave your hips feeling unstable.
The hormone relaxin plays a vital physiologica role during pregnancy, labor and the postpartum transition. Primarily secreted by the corpus leteum and placenta, this peptide hormone affects connective tissue by upregulating collagen breakdown and structurally adapting the musculoskeletal and vascular systems. During pregnancy, relaxin "loosens ligaments throughout the hips to prepare the pelvis for childbirth," said Dr. Busko.
Clinically, this systemic ligamentous laxity, combined with fluid retention, contributes to some of the most common symptoms pregnant women experience--pelvic girdle pain, lower back aches, joint instability, gait alteration, and carpal tunnel syndrome.
"For some women, that joint laxity persists well after delivery," said Dr. Busko. Postpartum, circulating relaxin declines gradually over time, which can be prolonged for breastfeeding mothers. And patients experiencing lingering hypermobility, may be at an increased risk of ankle and wrsit sprains.
"A physical exam and possibly imaging can be very helpful in determining if the pain is muscular, ligamentous, or bone related," says Dr. Busko. “Physical rehabilitation is often critical in helping women eliminate hip pain, return to pain-free exercise, and find more joy in the postpartum period."
Pain that lingers past 6-8 weeks pospartum isn't something to push through. If you have popping, instability, or difficulty on stairs, our Physical Therapy specialists can help identify what's going on and help with recovery. Management often focuses on targeted physical therapy to stabilize the pelvic floor and biomechanical support until baseline ligamentous tension returns to normal.
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