Pelvic Pain After Childbirth

Having a baby is a life-changing experience – and it’s not just about the new bundle of joy in your arms, but also what happens to your body. Many women are surprised by lingering pelvic pain after childbirth. Whether it’s an ache in your hips, pain around your lower back and pelvis, or discomfort in the groin area, postnatal pelvic pain is more common than you might think. The important message we want to share is that while this pain is common, you do not have to just “put up with it.” At Dyer Street Clinic in Cirencester, we offer specialised women’s health physiotherapy to help new mums recover and feel like themselves again. Let’s talk about why pelvic pain can happen after having a baby, and what you (and we) can do to help.

Why Am I in Pain After Having a Baby?

During pregnancy and childbirth, a woman’s body goes through tremendous changes. It’s no wonder that things can feel a bit out of sorts afterward. Here are a few reasons you might experience pelvic or lower back pain after giving birth:

• Pregnancy-Related Changes: All those months, your body produced hormones (like relaxin) that loosened your ligaments – the tough tissues that hold your joints together – to help your baby come out. This was especially true for the pelvis, which needs to expand. The result is that joints in your pelvis (like the pubic symphysis at the front and the sacroiliac joints at the back) might have moved more than usual and become a source of pain. This is known as pelvic girdle pain (PGP). For most women, PGP improves soon after birth once those hormones settle and your body begins to regain stability. However, for around 1 in 10 women, the pain doesn’t fully go away in the initial postnatal period. If you were unlucky enough to have PGP during pregnancy, you might be more likely to have some lingering pain afterward too.
• Birth-Related Trauma: The act of childbirth can sometimes cause injury. A long or difficult labor, especially one that involved forceps or other interventions, can lead to bruising or even minor fractures (for example, to the tailbone/coccyx). If you had a very quick delivery or a baby in a posterior position, your tailbone might have been strained – leading to coccyx (tailbone) pain when you sit. Additionally, the muscles of the pelvic floor (which stretch like a hammock at the bottom of your pelvis) can be torn or cut (in the case of an episiotomy) during delivery. This can lead to pain in the perineal area (between vagina and anus) and deeper pelvic discomfort as you heal.
• Cesarean Recovery: If you had a C-section (caesarean delivery), you have an abdominal incision and scar that’s healing. While a C-section avoids some of the pelvic trauma of vaginal birth, it introduces surgical recovery. Surprisingly, some women still experience pelvic or back pain after a C-section due to the strain of pregnancy or aftereffects of carrying baby differently due to incision pain. Scar tissue can also cause twinges or pull on surrounding tissues.
• Lack of Rest and Recovery: Caring for a newborn is a 24/7 job with very little rest for mum’s body. You might not be sleeping much, you’re likely lifting and carrying your baby (and car seats, prams…), and you probably haven’t had much time to do rehab exercises for yourself in those early weeks. All this can slow the healing of pregnancy and birth stresses, extending the time you feel aches and pains.

Pelvic pain postpartum can manifest in different ways for different women. Some feel it in the front (pubic area), some more in the back (tailbone or lower back), and others have a generalized pelvis or hip ache. It might be sharp with certain movements (like walking, going up stairs, or separating your legs), or more of a constant dull ache.

The bottom line: You just went through something huge physically. It’s absolutely normal to feel like your body isn’t 100% right afterward. But if pelvic pain is bothering you weeks or months after delivery, it deserves attention – both for your quality of life now and to prevent longer-term issues.

Common Postnatal Pelvic Issues

Let’s break down a few common types of pelvic issues new mums might face:

• Pelvic Girdle Pain (PGP) / Symphysis Pubis Dysfunction (SPD): These terms are often used for pelvic joint pain related to pregnancy/childbirth. Symptoms include pain in the pubic bone area, pain in the hips or one side of the lower back, and difficulty with activities like walking, climbing stairs, or even rolling in bed. You might hear or feel a clicking or grinding in the pelvis. If you had this in pregnancy, it often improves postpartum, but not always completely without therapy. The good news: PGP is treatable, even if it continues after pregnancy. It often involves improving muscle support around the pelvis and sometimes using belts or supports temporarily.
• Coccyx (Tailbone) Pain: Pain at the very bottom of your spine, especially when sitting, suggests coccyx pain. Childbirth is a common cause – the coccyx can get bruised or even dislocated. It can make sitting straight very uncomfortable (many mums find sitting on a doughnut cushion or leaning to one side helps). Tailbone pain can last for a while if not addressed, but manual therapy and exercises can help align and take pressure off the coccyx.
• Pelvic Floor Trauma: If you had a tear or episiotomy, you could have scar tissue causing pain or tightness in the perineal area. Sometimes women also report pain during intercourse (once they resume it) due to these issues – a condition known as dyspareunia. Pelvic floor muscle tension or nerve sensitivity from childbirth can contribute to this as well.
• Pubic Bone Pain: Some women have a persistent soreness right at the front of the pelvis (pubic symphysis). This can be part of PGP. It may flare with activities like standing on one leg (e.g., getting dressed) or pushing a heavy stroller.
• Generalized “Down There” Heaviness: While not exactly pain, a sense of heaviness or pressure in the pelvic region is common postpartum, especially after long days on your feet. This could hint at pelvic organ prolapse (where pelvic organs like bladder or uterus droop slightly due to stretched support). While prolapse can cause back or pelvic aching and a dragging sensation, it’s a separate issue that also is helped by pelvic floor physiotherapy. (If you suspect prolapse – symptoms might include that heaviness or a bulge, or urinary issues – definitely mention it to your GP or women’s health physio.)

Don’t Ignore Postnatal Pain: It’s Common but Treatable

One message we really want to send to new mothers is: you matter, too. It’s easy to put all your focus on the baby and feel like you just have to tolerate your own discomfort. But think about it – caring for a baby is hard enough without being in pain. Taking care of yourself will help you take better care of your little one.

Postpartum pelvic pain is common, but that doesn’t mean it should be brushed off as “normal” to endure forever. Unfortunately, many women suffer in silence, thinking it’s just the price of motherhood. In reality, much of this pain can be improved or resolved with proper care. Women’s health physiotherapists are specialists in this area.

Here are some signals that you should seek help for your pelvic pain:

• It hasn’t improved a few weeks after birth, or it’s getting worse.
• It’s making daily activities hard (you dread walking up stairs, or you find you can’t go for even short strolls with the pram without pain flaring).
• You’re relying on painkillers regularly to get through the day.
• You feel like something is “out of place” in your pelvis, or you hear clicking in your hips or pubic area when moving.
• Pain is limiting your confidence or ability to exercise (which you might be starting to think about for fitness or weight loss postpartum).
• It’s affecting your mood – constant pain can lead to feeling down or frustrated (totally understandable).

It’s worth getting an assessment rather than waiting, because sometimes early intervention means a quicker recovery. For example, if your pelvic joints are still a bit unstable, doing specific exercises now can help them stabilize rather than allowing a pattern of dysfunction to continue. If you had a scar from a tear, addressing any tightness or restrictions in that scar sooner can prevent issues like painful intercourse or pelvic floor dysfunction down the line.

Remember that your GP and health visitor are also there to support you. The NHS postnatal care guidelines emphasize checking in on things like back pain and incontinence at your postnatal check. If something hurts, mention it. You can be referred to physiotherapy on the NHS, though there might be a wait – that’s one reason many women opt to see us privately to get started sooner.

How Physiotherapy Can Help Postnatal Pelvic Pain

Women’s health physiotherapy (also known as pelvic health physiotherapy) is a branch of physio focusing on issues like those new mums face: pelvic pain, weakness, incontinence, etc. At Dyer Street Clinic, we have expertise in this area to help you recover comfortably.

Here’s what a pelvic physio can do for you:

• Assessment: First, we take a detailed history of your pregnancy and birth (every story is unique!). We’ll ask about your symptoms, what makes them better or worse, and check things like your posture, how you move, and maybe even examine your pelvic alignment. With your consent, we might do a gentle exam of your pelvic joints and muscles – this can even include an internal exam to feel your pelvic floor muscle strength and any tender points, but only if you’re comfortable with that. This assessment identifies the key factors contributing to your pain.
• Pelvic Floor Rehab: If weakness is an issue, we’ll guide you through pelvic floor exercises (Kegel exercises) to strengthen those muscles. On the flip side, if certain pelvic floor muscles are too tight (sometimes a cause of pelvic pain and painful scar tissue), we use techniques to help relax and lengthen them. Pelvic floor muscle training is highly effective – research has shown that a tailored physio program can significantly reduce postpartum pelvic pain and improve function. We might use biofeedback tools or an app like the NHS “Squeezy” app to help you do the exercises correctly.
• Manual Therapy: Hands-on techniques can work wonders. For example, gentle mobilisation of the hips, spine, or pelvic joints can improve alignment and relieve pain. We might gently realign a tilted sacrum or ease a stuck coccyx with specific maneuvers. If your muscles are in spasm (like a tight piriformis or adductor muscle), we’ll massage and release those. Even the abdominal muscles or C-section scar can benefit from massage to reduce tightness and improve circulation.
• Exercises for Strength and Stability: Beyond the pelvic floor, we’ll give you exercises for your core, glutes, and legs – all crucial for pelvic stability. Early on, these might be simple exercises you can do lying on a mat while baby naps next to you, like bridges (to activate glutes) or gentle abdominal exercises (often starting with deep breathing and pelvic tilts, progressing to things like leg slides or modified planks as you get stronger). A comprehensive postpartum physio program often includes a mix of stretching where needed (e.g., lower back or chest stretches if you’re tight from nursing posture) and strengthening where needed. The aim is to rebalance your body after the strains of pregnancy.
• Education and Ergonomics: We’ll talk about your daily activities and how to tweak them to reduce pain. For instance, we might show you better breastfeeding positions (use pillows to support the baby and your back), or how to lift the car seat with minimal strain (e.g., keep your back straight, bend your knees). If pushing the pram bothers your pelvis, we might adjust the handle height or suggest a support belt temporarily. Little changes can have a big impact on your comfort.
• Pain Relief Modalities: If needed, physios can also use things like TENS (transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation) – a small device that sends soothing tingling sensations to nerves, which can disrupt pain signals. We can also teach you how to use heat or cold effectively on the pelvis or back. Sometimes we use taping techniques (like kinesiology tape on the lower back or belly) to give some support to lax muscles or joints as you heal.

One huge part of physio is also giving you confidence in your body. It’s easy to feel like “I’ll never be the same” after having a baby, especially when you’re dealing with pain. But our bodies are resilient and with the right help, you can absolutely regain strength and be pain-free. We often set small goals with you – like being able to walk to the park and back, or return to your favorite fitness class – and create a roadmap to get you there safely.

Support for New Mums in Cirencester (You’re Not Alone!)

Cirencester and the wider Gloucestershire community have lots of new parents – and we know from our patients that postnatal pelvic pain is something many have quietly dealt with. We’re here to tell you that you’re not alone, and help is available. In recent years, there’s been a much-needed spotlight on women’s postnatal health. The NHS has even started rolling out dedicated pelvic health clinics so women can get help for issues like pelvic pain, incontinence, and prolapse after childbirth. It’s a recognition that for too long, women were told to just accept these issues.

At Dyer Street Clinic, we aim to provide that kind of specialised care right here locally. Our team understands the unique challenges new mums face – after all, some of us are parents too! We strive to schedule appointments in a way that’s convenient for you. If you need to bring your baby along to your physio session, that’s absolutely fine – we can accommodate a pram in the treatment room, and don’t worry if your little one fusses, we understand. The environment is friendly and supportive, because we know the last thing you need is more stress.

We’ll also coordinate with your GP or health visitor as needed. If we notice something that might need medical attention (like signs of a significant prolapse or an unresolved injury), we will communicate that and ensure you get the comprehensive care you need. Often, though, pelvic pain can be managed entirely with physiotherapy and some lifestyle adjustments.

Taking the first step can be the hardest part – acknowledging that you need some care for yourself. But think of it this way: resolving your pain will make caring for your baby easier and more enjoyable. You’ll be able to squat, lift, carry, and play without wincing. You’ll feel more up to taking the buggy out for a nice walk in Cirencester’s parks, which is good for both you and baby. And you’ll prevent possible long-term issues that could nag you for years.

So, if you’re a new mum (or even not-so-new; some women come to us months or years after childbirth because the aches never quite went away) in Cirencester or the surrounding areas, and you’re dealing with pelvic or back pain – reach out to Dyer Street Clinic. We’re here to support you. Our women’s health physio services are discreet, professional, and compassionate.

Motherhood is a journey full of surprises – some amazing, some challenging. Pelvic pain after childbirth might be an unexpected detour, but with the right help, you can navigate past it and move forward stronger. Let’s get you back to feeling good in your own body, so you can focus on enjoying your time with your little one.

References: Postpartum pelvic girdle pain persistencenbt.nhs.uk; Pelvic Partnership on treatability of PGPpelvicpartnership.org.uk; Physiotherapy impact on postpartum pelvic pain and functionpubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov; NHS initiative for postnatal pelvic health clinicsengland.nhs.uk.