I’ve been feeling a painful pressure in my pelvis area (almost as if a bowling bowl is weighing down on it). What is happening and how can I ease the discomfort?

There are two sets of ligaments – the broad and the round (the round are thin, like spaghetti). Both will stretch as the uterus starts to grow. A lot of women can mistake it for their period early on. Or they worry that the pain could be a sign of miscarriage, but it’s not. Again, you should check with your health care provider.

To help ease the pain, use a pregnancy support belt. It helps to hold up the growing uterus. Also, wearing bike short type of pregnancy underwear helps to hold up the weight of the tummy, so the ligaments aren’t doing so much work. This will also help prevent stretch marks.

(Ed. Note: Tight girdle-type pieces should NOT be worn during pregnancy.) 

Pelvic pain (along with lower back pain) is extremely common during pregnancy, and is usually surprisingly easy to treat. Sometimes the pain stems from a pre-existing problem that is exacerbated by the physical stress of pregnancy, and sometimes the pain is a direct result of the strain of pregnancy and the new posture and sleeping positions that come with it. For these particular symptoms, we see best results from a combination of prenatal massage to relax the stiff and achy muscles, and gentle chiropractic adjustments to restore normal motion to the spine and pelvic bones.