Pubic Symphysis Pain

Have you ever experienced pain in the front of your pelvis where your pubic bones come together? You may have heard this referred to as SPD, pelvic girdle pain, pubic symphysis pain, or a similar term. It can be more common during pregnancy and in the hypermobile population due to the ligament laxity associated with both.

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Like many things, strengthening the surrounding musculature is going to be helpful. While you are working on strengthening, here are some things that may be helpful!

Using a pillow between your legs while sleeping can take some stress off the pubic symphysis. Look for a dense pillow to keep the knees in line with the hips. If you have a long enough one that you can put it between your ankles also, that may help. Those insanely large pregnancy pillows that force your partner to sleep on the couch can also help with this.

Shorten your stride while walking. The longer the stride, the more of your weight is placed on one leg for a longer duration of time. This puts more stress on the area. Shortening your stride can decrease discomfort in some cases.

Keeping your legs together while getting in and out of a vehicle, chair, etc, can help. You may also want to avoid single-leg exercises if they make things feel worse for the time being. Look for strengthening exercises that do not place additional stress on the area.

Wearing an SI belt can be helpful for some folks as well. Anecdotally, this was an issue for me when I was pregnant. Between the increase in relaxin during pregnancy and the fact that I have hEDS, my pelvis felt loose and painful. Pubic symphysis and SI joint paint were a couple of my bigger discomforts during pregnancy. For me, staying active and strong helped but wasn’t enough overall to manage the pain. An SI belt or even having my partner press my hip bones together during pregnancy was helpful and offered a lot of relief. Getting into a pool can also feel amazing toward the end of pregnancy!