When Rebecca Middleton became pregnant, she had no idea that she would end up in a wheelchair for the final three months before she gave birth.<\/p>\n
Rebecca had had a difficult first trimester dealing with nausea and sickness, and began to develop pelvic pain four months into her pregnancy.<\/p>\n
\u00ab\u00a0I could hardly walk, I’d always had some problems with lower back pain in my life. But nothing that significant and it escalated quite quickly,\u00a0\u00bb she says.<\/p>\n
After complaining about the pain, she was referred to an NHS physio, and eventually diagnosed with an extreme case of pelvic girdle pain (PGP), also known as symphysis pubic dysfunction.<\/p>\n
Problems with your pelvic joints are a common symptom of pregnancy, affecting one in five expectant mothers to some degree.<\/p>\n
\u00ab\u00a0I was terrified, would I ever walk again? How would I have my baby, how would I care for it?\u00a0\u00bb<\/p>\n
After giving birth, Rebecca was in less pain, but she still struggled with basic things like walking, lifting her son or pushing a pram.<\/p>\n
\u00ab\u00a0I was disabled for seven months and had to have someone helping me all the time,\u00a0\u00bb she says.<\/p>\n
\u00ab\u00a0I just couldn’t do the things that you should be able to do in looking after a baby, it was a really challenging time.\u00a0\u00bb<\/p>\n
Prior to becoming pregnant, it was an issue Rebecca was unaware of and since her experience she volunteers for The Pelvic Partnership, a charity which helps raise awareness and support women with this condition.<\/p>\n
It says the condition is treatable with the right action.<\/p>\n
As soon as your symptoms start, the charity advises you get hands-on individualised treatment, including manual therapy, and ask for a referral for NHS physiotherapy from your GP or midwife.<\/p>\n
If you aren’t offered this support initially, the charity suggests going back to your GP or midwife and asking for a second opinion.<\/p>\n
They can also refer you to maternal mental health support to help you manage the emotional impacts of living with PGP.<\/p>\n
Dr Nighat Arif, a women’s health specialist, says higher awareness and early assessment could prevent patients like Rebecca needing wheelchairs or crutches.<\/p>\n
\u00ab\u00a0Without that early identification based on a really good understanding of the female body, we leave some of these women with negative effects for life,\u00a0\u00bb she says.<\/p>\n
Victoria Roberton, co-ordinator at the Pelvic Partnership, is an example of how awareness can help.<\/p>\n
Like Rebecca, she didn’t know what PGP was when she began experiencing the condition during her first pregnancy.<\/p>\n
She tried to stay as active as possible as advised and was referred to NHS physio sessions online and by phone, but found the pain worsening as her pregnancy progressed.<\/p>\n
\u00ab\u00a0They gave us exercises, stretches to do. By this point I couldn’t do any of them. It was too painful,\u00a0\u00bb she says.<\/p>\n
It got to the point where even sitting became uncomfortable for Victoria, and she was largely homebound until her baby was born.<\/p>\n
The pain lessened after the birth of her daughter, but she began experiencing the same problem when she became pregnant with her second child.<\/p>\n
It’s not an option for many mothers, but Victoria said given her medical history she decided to pay for a private physio as the NHS wait for referral was long.<\/p>\n
The physio gave her a full assessment and hands-on treatment including joint mobilisation, and taught her different ways to move her body to not aggravate her hip joints, which helped ease the pain.<\/p>\n
Victoria still struggles with a degree of PGP today, four years on, but her second pregnancy was much easier to manage because she understood her condition and how to handle it.<\/p>\n
Rebecca’s second pregnancy has been similarly a much more positive experience.<\/p>\n
This time round she knew she was at risk of PGP and was able to have it treated throughout her pregnancy before it became debilitating.<\/p>\n
She has made a full recovery from PGP, just two months post birth compared to two years for her first child.<\/p>\n
\u00ab\u00a0I’m probably in better shape now than I was before either of my children because I now know what caused that pelvic girdle pain, and have had it fully treated and resolved with manual therapy,\u00a0\u00bb she says.<\/p>\n
\u00ab\u00a0It was five years of hell because of the pain I was in because of a lack of knowledge and understanding about the subject.\u00a0\u00bb<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
When Rebecca Middleton became pregnant, she had no idea that she would end up in a wheelchair for the final three months before she gave birth. Rebecca had had a difficult first trimester dealing with nausea and sickness, and began to develop pelvic pain four months into her pregnancy. \u00ab\u00a0I could hardly walk, I’d always […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-9430","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-uncategorized"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/placedesnations.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9430","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/placedesnations.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/placedesnations.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/placedesnations.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9430"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/placedesnations.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9430\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/placedesnations.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9430"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/placedesnations.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9430"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/placedesnations.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9430"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}