Symphysis Pubis Dysfunction can cause SO many problems for pregnant women and anyone who’s ever had a baby). Today we’re learning what it is and what we can do help it!
Today’s guest is Ashlie Crewe Campitella. She attended Gannon University where she received her Bachelor’s in Psychology and her Doctorate of Physical Therapy degrees. She then began her specialized training in pelvic health physical therapy. While treating patients and training in pelvic floor therapy, she also attended courses regarding pain neuroscience, finding her passion in combining the knowledge from her pelvic health courses with the neuroscience of persistent pain conditions. She has developed pelvic floor programs in several of her company’s clinics and currently treats patients of all genders with pelvic health concerns, while providing mentorship to other pelvic floor therapists in her company, and educating her community about pelvic health rehab. She achieved her Board Certification as a Women’s Health Specialist in 2017 and is also a member of the International Pelvic Pain Society as well as the Global Pelvic Health Alliance. Additionally she has served as a teaching assistant in various Herman and Wallace classes, and serves as adjunct faculty for Lebanon Valley College. She is developing curriculum for her company to make inclusive and affirming pelvic health education accessible to clinicians within the large orthopedic physical therapy company she works for. Primarily, she treats in central Pennsylvania, traveling to several clinics in the area to mentor therapists and consult with patients. She is experienced in treating pelvic pain conditions, urinary and fecal incontinence, pelvic organ prolapse, post-operative gender-affirmation conditions, constipation, pediatric pelvic floor conditions, and prenatal and postpartum conditions. She is passionate about the multidisciplinary care of persistent pain conditions, and eager to work with experts in all fields of study to better help her patients have painfree and fulfilling lives.
I found her on the Tiktok @ashliecthepelvicpt
This episode was inspired by my post on Symphysis Pubis Dysfunction.
Big thanks to our sponsor The Online Prenatal Class for Couples — if you’re looking to get prepared for all aspects of pregnancy, labor and your postpartum life IT Is the course for YOU!
In this episode
What Symphysis Pubis Dysfunction looks like — symptoms and issues.
When to talk to your provider about it
Using a belt for pelvic support
How long it normally lasts?
Other things that might interest you
Bladder Leakage episode with Ashlie Crewe
21 weeks pregnant sharp pains lower abdomen
Producer: Drew Erickson
Transcript
[00:00:00.000] – Hilary Erickson
Hey guys! Welcome back to the Pulling Curls Podcast. Today, we are talking about our pelvis. And right where your pelvis comes together is a little area called the Symphysis Pubis. And sometimes those two sites don’t want to play nice during pregnancy, so let’s untangle it.
[00:00:25.240] – Hilary Erickson
Hi, I’m Hilary Erickson, the curly head behind the Pulling Curls Podcast. We untangle pregnancy, parenting, home and even travel. We know there’s no right answer for every family, but hopefully we can spark some ideas that will work for yours. Life’s tangled just like my hair.
[00:00:48.700] – Hilary Erickson
Okay, guys, before we get started, maybe your pelvis doesn’t always want to play nice, but, you know, one way to play nice is to leave me a review. Like, I totally appreciate it, and maybe it would cure you. Okay, it probably won’t cure you, but leave me a review. Thanks.
[00:01:02.300] – Hilary Erickson
This is my guest’s second time on the podcast. She is the director for pelvic rehab at the Dreyer physical Therapy. She’s a physical therapist. She has tons of information about our pelvic floor, and she has so much good information on the TikTok, which is where I met her. I want to introduce today’s guest Ashley Crewe.
[00:01:22.360] – Hilary Erickson
Do you feel prepared for your delivery in just three short hours, you can be prepared for the confident, collaborative delivery you want, you’ll know what to expect and how to talk with your healthcare team. And there are no boring lessons in this class. I’ll use humor, stories from my 20 years in the delivery room to engage both of you. I love how Alyssa told me that she found herself laughing at things that used to sound scary. Most of all you guys are going to be on the same page from Bump to Bassinet. Join the online prenatal class for couples today. You can save 15% with coupon code UNTANGLED. You can find the link in the show notes.
[00:01:57.640] – Hilary Erickson
Hey, Ashley, welcome to the Pulling Curls… Welcome back to the Pulling Curls Podcast.
[00:02:02.420] – Ashleigh Crewe
Thank you so much. It’s good to be back.
[00:02:04.650] – Hilary Erickson
I love to talk about the pelvis.
[00:02:06.630] – Ashleigh Crewe
Me, too.
[00:02:07.650] – Hilary Erickson
I have a crochet pelvis just in the room behind me. It’s fine.
[00:02:11.370] – Ashleigh Crewe
Yeah, right. It’s super chill. I have a little mini office in my downstairs and there’s a pelvic model, and then on the wall in front of me, there’s a kind of a uterus and a penis and another pelvis and everything’s fine. I’m super casual.
[00:02:23.570] – Hilary Erickson
It’s just anatomy. It’s fine.
[00:02:25.250] – Ashleigh Crewe
That’s exactly right.
[00:02:26.840] – Hilary Erickson
Okay. So today we’re talking about your pelvis and how sometimes it likes to get divorced while you’re pregnant.
[00:02:32.420] – Ashleigh Crewe
It’s for the best way. Maybe just a little separated. It’s trial separation.
[00:02:37.190] – Hilary Erickson
Having a trial separation.
[00:02:38.670] – Hilary Erickson
Some women’s, like, full on divorces, though, right?
[00:02:41.520] – Ashleigh Crewe
Yes. Some women’s full on divorces.
[00:02:43.520] – Hilary Erickson
That’s pretty rare, right?
[00:02:45.050] – Ashleigh Crewe
Yes. God bless. Yes. It’s rare, thankfully. Yes.
[00:02:49.500] – Hilary Erickson
Okay. So what are the symptoms? Because I had it with my last one. And obviously I talked to doctors all the time, and they were just like, it’s fine. You’re fine. What are the symptoms?
[00:02:59.510] – Ashleigh Crewe
So we’re talking about? The joint is a very, very front of your pelvis. So if you’ve got vulva, it is kind of right where your mons pubis, where the kind of pubic hair starts. So pain usually starts there. It tends to be pretty sharp pain, but then it can radiate kind of into your abdomen a little bit, sometimes down your thighs. And this usually causes a lot of problems with things that you do with one leg and not the other. So I always kind of say, think about you stand to put on pants.
[00:03:23.730] – Ashleigh Crewe
And as you lift one leg up, that usually causes pain. It goes up and down steps tends to be really painful pain with turning over in bed. And sometimes people can get clicking or almost clunking sounds kind of coming from that area of their body as well. And then so a lot of people, I think now the most common thing that I think of is if we see a pregnant person doing the quote, unquote “duck waddle” that’s usually in an attempt to not let their pelvis move a whole heck of a lot.
[00:03:47.880] – Ashleigh Crewe
And so if I see someone walking into the clinic who is pregnant or postpartum, and they’re quite a pretty significant kind of waddle, that gives me a clue that their pubic symphysis might be a little problematic. But pain in that area, and maybe some clicking is probably the biggest symptoms.
[00:04:03.690] – Hilary Erickson
Okay. So definitely. So mine felt like electric.
[00:04:07.070] – Ashleigh Crewe
Yes, that’s a lot a lot of people say.
[00:04:09.330] – Hilary Erickson
And I always make a lightning Bolt right over the person’s crotch when I make an image for this.
[00:04:15.830] – Ashleigh Crewe
Yes.
[00:04:16.160] – Hilary Erickson
But that’s how I always felt. And I still feel it now, a couple days after my period when your body has that hormone in it. Also, I’ll be like, oh, I’m so glad I’m never having another baby. That’s what I think. I’ll feel it now, and I’ll be like, oh, I didn’t need that.
[00:04:28.980] – Ashleigh Crewe
Yes. Every once in a while I tell people about I remember standing in my closet trying to get dressed for work and throwing my pants on the floor and trying to figure out how I could wiggle a foot into it and not experience that pain. And I remember just crying because I was like, I can’t do this. It’s going to give me that zap. Oh, Lord, yeah.
[00:04:47.810] – Hilary Erickson
But I do think the pants thing is like the number one when I asked women, well, does it really hurt when you put on pants? Because a lot of times people just have an ache down there because the baby is sitting on all of those tissues and stuff like that. But the pants thing, I think, is a great indicator. So they didn’t ever think I had it because I didn’t really bring up the zapping feeling because I didn’t really know how to say it. But my tailbone hurt so bad and forever.
[00:05:12.080] – Hilary Erickson
And they never mentioned that it could be my pubis symphysis. But the more research I’m like, oh, it was just because things are off in the front part, it adjust in the back, and that’s what caused it, right.
[00:05:23.830] – Ashleigh Crewe
I mean, we have this ring of bone that the baby sits in, that is the pelvis. And there’s only so many spots on that ring of bone that are mobile. So there’s the one in the front, and then there’s two spots on either side and the low back. And so there’s only so many places that stress can go. And so a lot of times we’ll refer to a kind of all is pelvic girdle pain, which can be kind of anywhere in that ring. But in the front, it’s typically referred to as two big synthesis or synthesis Cubis dysfunction.
[00:05:49.060] – Hilary Erickson
Yeah. I think pelvic girdle pain is confusing because a lot of times people have that ligament pain, which is near the pelvic girdle but not associated with your pelvis. That your uterus tying to your anyway, there’s just so much fun pain.
[00:06:02.190] – Ashleigh Crewe
There really is.
[00:06:03.000] – Hilary Erickson
And really, there isn’t a whole lot you can do for ligament pain, but there is stuff you can do for synthesis pubis pain. I mean, to a point, having the baby being the best diagnosis affecting it.
[00:06:14.880] – Ashleigh Crewe
Maybe not the most efficient since you’re only 18 weeks in. But yeah, and I would say we can do it. It we can do some things to help around. Like, is it pain a little bit, but definitely for this pubic synthesis pain, that’s where we can really, really make an impact. Okay.
[00:06:29.170] – Hilary Erickson
So if people are listening either if they’re pregnant or postpartum, because it can last quite a while in your postpartum period, what should they do?
[00:06:37.590] – Ashleigh Crewe
You need to get to a public PT or OT or pelvic rehabilitation professional first and foremost, because the cool thing about it is we’ve got this ring of bone with a few areas of movement, and it’s designed to be very stable the way the bony anatomy works. It’s designed to be really stable. But the problem is when we go through a pregnancy, that’s when the most change in those joints happen. So the other part of this is that the pelvic floor muscles quite honestly line the inside of that ring of bone and part of the pelvic floor muscles job is to contract and stabilize and compress those joints.
[00:07:09.550] – Ashleigh Crewe
I mean, my question for God, when I get there is we go through all these changes in their bony pelvis. At the same time, our pelvic floor is being changed because of a pregnancy and then either a vaginal delivery, surgical delivery. Either way, these pelvic floor muscles just really go through another huge change. And it’s their job to help stabilize that ring.
[00:07:29.790] – Ashleigh Crewe
Like, could we have done this a little bit better?
[00:07:32.200] – Ashleigh Crewe
It’s my question for God, when I get there. And so. But the idea behind a little bit of pelvic TT is that we’re going to help get these muscles working a little bit better so that they can do their job and stabilize that pelvic ring again, because that if somebody had a vaginal delivery, we know those muscles were stretched. Sometimes some of them up to 250% of their length. So I tell people do much our hamstrings. If I stress your hamstring 250% of its length. Your hamstring does not work after that same thing with the nerves that are inside those muscles that control those muscles, they undergo a significant stretch injury.
[00:08:04.560] – Ashleigh Crewe
So then no wonder where they’re not firing. Well, to contract and stabilize that pelvis. And so that’s the public PT’s job is to help patients figure out how to get these muscles kind of active and working again to help kind of give those joints stabilities that they need so that you can put on pants without crying in your closet.
[00:08:19.350] – Hilary Erickson
Like me skirt. There really were very few options. I guess you could do a dress if it went over your hair.
[00:08:25.510] – Ashleigh Crewe
Yeah, exactly.
[00:08:26.550] – Hilary Erickson
Right.
[00:08:27.630] – Ashleigh Crewe
But I’m a currently hair girl, too. I don’t want to put a whole lot over my head.
[00:08:30.580] – Hilary Erickson
It’s a lot of frizz.
[00:08:32.040] – Ashleigh Crewe
It sure is.
[00:08:33.600] – Hilary Erickson
Plus dresses when you’re, like, nine months pregnant. I’m always like, oh, look at everything’s. A highlow, right?
[00:08:39.450] – Ashleigh Crewe
Exactly. Exactly. And then I was working in a PT clinic. I can’t demonstrate exercises in a dress. Something has to go on. Oh, yes, that’s for sure.
[00:08:48.270] – Hilary Erickson
Okay. So people should probably talk with their doctor most of the time. Time we need a doctor’s referral to get physical therapy with our insurance.
[00:08:55.430] – Ashleigh Crewe
Insurance, yeah. It depends on the state and depends on the insurance. If you have an insurance that is provided by the federal government. So Medicare, Medicaid. Yes, you need a referral. But most States have direct access to physical therapy, meaning that you can come and see me without a referral unless you have an insurance that’s provided by the federal government. So if somebody has got Blue Cross or an Etna or all these other commercial insurances, most States do allow patients to come and see us for, like in Pennsylvania, which is where I am.
[00:09:26.750] – Ashleigh Crewe
It’s up to 30 days, and I’m allowed to see a patient without a referral. But I always say sometimes if somebody is pregnant, the therapists feel a bit more comfortable if we know an OBGYN or a midwife or somebody has seen that person to say, hey, this is not a high risk pregnancy. Nothing we need to know about that kind of thing.
[00:09:42.430] – Hilary Erickson
Oh, yeah. Obviously that. Yeah, definitely talk with her doctor. Plus, they might have somebody that they know who does this.
[00:09:49.480] – Ashleigh Crewe
Really.
[00:09:49.850] – Hilary Erickson
I went to physical therapy with my third when it was the worst, and she didn’t even mention it. I had pain in my side. Plus that. And she, like, diagnosed scoliosis.
[00:09:59.420] – Ashleigh Crewe
Which is ridiculous starting your pregnancy. So, yeah. So definitely talk to your doctor and then check out even Googling pelvic PT, because physical therapy is different than pelvic physical therapy. And so not every physical therapist is going to be brilliant at pubic symphysis dysfunction. So it’d be great to find a brilliant one in your area when you call the office.
[00:10:18.490] – Hilary Erickson
Are you saying you specialize in pelvic, or do you have a physical therapist who specializes in pelvic floor rehab? Is that what you’re talking about?
[00:10:26.120] – Ashleigh Crewe
Yeah. The perfect.
[00:10:28.060] – Hilary Erickson
Sometimes I’m like, I need somebody that can help my electric pain by my peepee hole.
[00:10:34.180] – Ashleigh Crewe
And I mean, truly, that might scare off an orthopedic physical therapist who thinks they can help with your pelvis. But if you say zappy pain near my peepee hole, they’re like, no, no, no, no, no. That’s not me.
[00:10:45.100] – Hilary Erickson
I’m like, it’s not a bladder infection.
[00:10:47.020] – Ashleigh Crewe
It’s something. Right? Right. Okay.
[00:10:49.780] – Hilary Erickson
So let’s pretend like physical therapy isn’t in people like, they don’t have insurance or they can’t get to it. Is there anything people can be doing at home that can help with this type of thing or if they’re doctors like, that’s just normal. Suck it up.
[00:11:02.930] – Ashleigh Crewe
Okay. You’re my significant vice you to make you raise here today. Hillary, I would say your doctor says his normal suck it up. Find a new doctor is my short answer, because that’s it’s. I think that’s been so common that that’s then what pregnant people have been told for so long that this is what do you expect? He just had a baby or you’re pregnant and it’ll go away. And truly, even within my childbirth education classes through a major medical institution where I am, they had a physical therapist and came and presented.
[00:11:32.920] – Ashleigh Crewe
And I was like, okay, he’s gonna tell me all these cool things, and then he was like, yeah, we really can’t help you until after you have the baby. And I was like, I don’t think so, buddy. Anyway, what’s? So and now I’ve lost track. What was the big question I complete this for?
[00:11:46.980] – Hilary Erickson
So if physical therapy is not in the picture, is there stuff people can do now to physical therapist?
[00:11:52.280] – Ashleigh Crewe
Yes. There are gazillion resources online to figure out to make sure you’re doing public core contractions correctly. I’m sure you’re gonna link my tip talk or something. Yeah, I know. I have a video on there about that, because that’s going to be one of the most important things is getting those muscles kind of working again.
[00:12:09.080] – Hilary Erickson
So this being after the baby?
[00:12:10.610] – Ashleigh Crewe
Yes. Is there anything people can do before I was gonna say during pregnancy as well? Absolutely. They wanna start doing public core contractions. And I like to really combine those public core contractions with the movement that might be provoking the pain, putting pants on. Yes.
[00:12:27.020] – Ashleigh Crewe
Exactly.
[00:12:28.230] – Ashleigh Crewe
And so because again, those public forms are supposed to sort of reflexively contract and stabilize our pelvis while we do those things. The problem is when we’re pregnant, there’s lots of extra stress being placed on those muscles, and it’s harder to do so. Ideally, before people get pregnant, we would be doing some lovely like general fitness for people who eventually want to have a baby. They would include lots of pelvic floor exercises. And I mean way more than just your basic table, sitting in a stop light or laying in your bed squeezing.
[00:12:58.860] – Ashleigh Crewe
But it’s important to start thinking about can I contract my public floor muscles just a little bit? Maybe while I pick up a laundry basket, can I contract those muscles when I go from sitting to standing? And if we can incorporate that kind of stuff into even before pregnancy happens and kind of build as much strength as we can. Very like we were going to have less symptoms of pubic symphysis dysfunction. I don’t have any research radials to support that. It’d be great if we did some, like a prenatal fitness program to see what would happen.
[00:13:27.510] – Ashleigh Crewe
But we’re in America and not just going to happen any time soon. But then throughout the pregnancy to continue to try to strengthen those muscles and recruit those muscles while you’re doing the thing that is painful, provocative things like that. The other big thing I tell people is again, it’s mostly asymmetrical movements that really cause most of the problems because there is a level of torque that’s going across those public joints when you’re doing something asymmetrical so at least sometimes we just need to modify tasks a little bit.
[00:13:56.580] – Ashleigh Crewe
So instead of lunging to reach down and doing what we call the golfers lift. When you think about standing on one straight leg and lifting the other leg up and reaching down, I told me it would just give me a squat because that’s nice. And you’re doing symmetrical things with both legs and sometimes that’s less painful. So there is things like that. It’s just that are activity modification. And I am sure I’ve not looked, but I’m sure there’s a gajillion things on YouTube about what to do.
[00:14:22.250] – Ashleigh Crewe
So YouTube TikToks are great resources for some of that stuff as well. So there are belts as well. These Si joint belts or Helvic belts or whatever. I want to call them. That’s not your typical, like maternity belt support is meant to support the abdomen. These are I don’t know. Maybe I’m showing you all the listeners can see my fingers maybe three inches and they’re really thick made a Sigma. And the idea is they kind of sit right around your pelvis, so just under belly. And the idea is they kind of compress those pelvic joints for you.
[00:14:54.260] – Ashleigh Crewe
Now, I’m a little biased about all of this because I think what the research shows is that those belts would have to press in with about seven Newtons of force to actually compress the joints anymore. And so no piece of elastic is going to compress with seven Newtons of force. So, I mean, I don’t think it’s actually compressing the joint itself. In the PT world we tend to think about. Is it just helping give some input to your nervous system, input to the muscles to make things work a little bit better?
[00:15:21.810] – Ashleigh Crewe
Maybe. And I’m okay with that. For me, I kind of jokingly talk to my patients. I’ll let them say, hey, it’s worth a try. But for me again, I worked until the day I deliver with both my children. And to get these belts tight enough to do anything, you got a whole heck of a lot of muffin top situation happening, especially when pregnant. And I was not comfortable in my person professional environment looking like that. So I was like, Nope, I will just deal and contract my public floor and try to rehabilitate as best I can.
[00:15:49.860] – Ashleigh Crewe
But it is an option for folks. If it is really significant. I’ve got people who were essentially bed ridden because of pubic symphysis dysfunction. And for them, I’m like, Listen, if you’re going to be in your bed hanging out, you might as well put that belt on. If it’s gonna make no rolling over in bed, feel a little bit better. And if you’re in this lovely mumu situation and no one’s going to see you can going to worry about that, then that’s a great option as well.
[00:16:13.030] – Ashleigh Crewe
Yeah.
[00:16:13.830] – Hilary Erickson
So I started to notice that tight pants I felt better in. But when I would wear scrubs at work because we all get a size up in our scrubs because we were all over the place. It was miserable at work because zero support from the scrubs. So I just got a bigger top and I stuck my little hip thing on and wore at work. And that was the only way I could survive.
[00:16:33.600] – Ashleigh Crewe
But when I was at home.
[00:16:34.960] – Hilary Erickson
As long as I had on type pants, lucky family. It was fine.
[00:16:38.850] – Ashleigh Crewe
Yeah, absolutely.
[00:16:41.530] – Hilary Erickson
Do you think you can become too reliant on those belts? Because a lot of times they’re like, are your muscle building if you’re wearing the belts all the time, but honestly, it’s not comfortable enough that you’re like, let me wear this 24 hours a day, right? The joy.
[00:16:54.720] – Ashleigh Crewe
Right. And I tend to say, someone who’s going to wear those belts. I really encourage me because the shorter ages, we don’t know. I’m a huge proponent of evidence based medicine, and we don’t have any research to say, do they actually, over time weaken your muscles? It stands to reason that it might. But again, I kind of take the approach of these belts aren’t actually truly compressing the joints. They’re doing something to make those muscles fire a little bit better and to give your nerve assistant some inputs.
[00:17:22.750] – Ashleigh Crewe
And so in that situation, it probably helps long term, more than anything I do to often tell patients, though I don’t, because we don’t know. I don’t necessarily think it’s a great idea to just wear it all day, every day throughout 24 hours a day. But if you know you’re gonna go and work to 12 hours shift as a nurse, go ahead and put that on. Or if you’re gonna go walk around an amusement park all day long and you know you’re gonna be dying by the end of the day, go ahead and put it on for that.
[00:17:43.940] – Ashleigh Crewe
And then maybe if you’re gonna be hanging out your house, talking about doing podcast interviews all day, maybe leave it alone.
[00:17:49.360] – Hilary Erickson
Yeah.
[00:17:49.970] – Ashleigh Crewe
So I kind of tell my patients I want you to use it when you need it, but not to just live your daily life.
[00:17:55.850] – Hilary Erickson
Okay. So people are looking it up on Amazon. They’re looking for Si joint belt and Si belt.
[00:18:03.600] – Ashleigh Crewe
Yeah.
[00:18:04.610] – Hilary Erickson
And it’s not like where you would wear a regular belt. If people are picturing this in their mind, it is over your hip. So it goes over the top of your bum. Right?
[00:18:12.310] – Ashleigh Crewe
Yes. Absolutely.
[00:18:13.310] – Hilary Erickson
Where the electric pain is.
[00:18:15.200] – Ashleigh Crewe
Basically. Yes. Exactly. I was going to say it should be like if you put it on without any clothing on, it should be going right over pubic hair or where pubic hair would be if you removed it. But yeah. So it’s really low.
[00:18:28.420] – Hilary Erickson
Okay. So how long does it usually last?
[00:18:32.740] – Ashleigh Crewe
Right. So typically, if someone’s going to have it at the early stages of pregnancy and I’m talking first, maybe second trimester again, we have zero research when this because, of course. But if that’s the case, I usually see it as things are changing. People seem to have a lot of symptoms of it. And then later on, it seems to go away. But I see a lot of people, too, who then have it maybe right before delivery. And then if we have any tearing of the perineal muscles during labor and delivery, when we think about the actual physical act of getting a baby out of our pelvis, there’s a ton of stress to those joints, particularly if we’re birthing in positions where we don’t allow those joints to move.
[00:19:12.320] – Ashleigh Crewe
Very well. I hear me about I rant about birthing on your back, because when we do that, so if you birth laying flat on your back, you are really fixing the two joints in the back. You’re not allowing them to move very much because the whole way of the mother is pushing back there. So all of the stress of that action has to go where the pubic symphysis is. And so that’s when I really see becoming a problem in the postpartum period. And truly it does not get rehabilitated.
[00:19:39.140] – Ashleigh Crewe
I don’t know how long it would last, but typically is an orthopedic injury. And so let’s say somebody came to me two weeks postpartum with pubic symphysis pain. I would really expect that if they came to therapy and did exercises at home. That really by the eight week post part of Mark. They should be feeling a whole heck of a lot better. They probably don’t need to see them any longer than that. On average, I’m not making anybody any promises. I can fix all people, because if this pain in six weeks.
[00:20:04.130] – Ashleigh Crewe
But I would say between six to ten weeks with treatment, it should be tons better.
[00:20:09.970] – Hilary Erickson
Oh, man on better. I know, like, two years. I think she was two years and four months old before I could start to sit without being really in pain. And I did go to a physical therapist. So you really need to find a person that can, like, somebody great. Yeah. And again, I went to visit also saying my tailbone hurts because that is the thing that hurts the most. And so use all of the symptoms. I did say the electric pain in the front, but they kept I got an epidural in my tailbone, and it wasn’t that at all.
[00:20:40.150] – Hilary Erickson
It was always the rest of it. And I had really bad plantar fasciitis from it, because once I resolved the SCD, the plantar fasciitis went away because it is all tied in people.
[00:20:51.520] – Ashleigh Crewe
Absolutely right. I tell. I look at to start looking at the pelvis. But every time I see a patient, I kind of say, I need to look at you from head to toe. I’m gonna look at your whole body. Probably give you the most comprehensive exam you’ve ever gotten in your entire life.
[00:21:03.760] – Hilary Erickson
Because I need to look at every aspect of this and mention all the problems that you have, because I don’t want that. I brought up nurses just get plantar fasciitis like, it’s our thing. So did I mention that? I don’t know. But later I was like, oh, because my pelvis was tilted. It was stretching those muscles. I am stupid.
[00:21:22.480] – Ashleigh Crewe
Exactly.
[00:21:23.180] – Hilary Erickson
That anatomy. I completely understand.
[00:21:27.250] – Ashleigh Crewe
And it’s funny because I talk to patient all the time and say, you think of your vehicle and let’s say you hit something hard and you bend the frame of your car. You do affect your pelvic ring. You bend the frame of your car and you just keep driving on it. Are your tires going to know eventually? Yes, that’s all it is. It’s just simple mechanics. It’s simple physics. We can do some things along the line. But, yeah, we definitely need to address the whole system because it can’t have far reaching implications.
[00:21:56.150] – Ashleigh Crewe
And so I always think, too. We’ve got to look at talk to people about how are they sitting when they’re breastfeeding or bottle feeding or pumping or whatever it is that they’re doing, because especially in the early days of infant life, there’s so much that Mamas typically stereotypically are doing that are sitting and leaning forward. That is the position. And so we need to talk about let’s talk about looking up as far as your neck as well and as far down as your feet. So absolutely we look at the whole body.
[00:22:21.490] – Ashleigh Crewe
Oh, yeah.
[00:22:23.020] – Hilary Erickson
So most of all, don’t let your doctor push you off. If you’ve got that electric pain. If putting on pants is hard, don’t let them just be like that’s. Ligament pain. Ligament pain does not come when you pull one leg up. Ligament pain is more to the side, and it’s usually when you cough or you turn. But yeah. So if you have that, tell your doctor and expect them to send you to physical therapy, because that’s not what your OB specialized in. You aren’t looking for your OB to fix this, right?
[00:22:49.910] – Ashleigh Crewe
It’s unlikely. Yeah, I’m a firm believer in we all have our magical gifts that we do. This is not something I would expect an OB to fix.
[00:22:58.670] – Hilary Erickson
Just like, I mean.
[00:22:59.550] – Ashleigh Crewe
In a pinch, I could probably deliver a baby.
[00:23:01.580] – Ashleigh Crewe
But an OB is definitely the better choice in a pinch.
[00:23:05.280] – Hilary Erickson
Anyone the floor can deliver it. Right?
[00:23:07.550] – Hilary Erickson
Exactly.
[00:23:07.950] – Ashleigh Crewe
Exactly. If we’re on an airplane and I’m the only one, I’m the most qualified, I’ll do it. I think I can handle it. But if there’s an ob, I will let them do that. So let the Pelvic Pts help provoke the pubic symphysis dysfunction.
[00:23:19.530] – Hilary Erickson
Yeah. You’ll be like, don’t let her deliver on the back.
[00:23:22.610] – Hilary Erickson
And you’re like, how well are we going to deliver on an airplane? We’re on an airplane.
[00:23:28.920] – Ashleigh Crewe
Absolutely.
[00:23:30.580] – Hilary Erickson
All right.
[00:23:31.070] – Hilary Erickson
Thanks for coming on, Ashley. This was awesome. Get help if you have it. Don’t let your doctor or whoever say this is normal because I probably talked about 15 when I was pregnant with my last and they are all just like it’s normal and it’s going to take forever to fix.
[00:23:43.940] – Ashleigh Crewe
Yeah. Great messaging, Docs. We like to rewrite that narrative. Common not normal is possible to fix officially. Alright.
[00:23:54.090] – Hilary Erickson
Thanks, Ashley.
[00:23:54.940] – Ashleigh Crewe
Thank you.
[00:23:55.670] – Hilary Erickson
Okay guys, it’s so common. And the sad part is that is just as common for those doctors to just be like, it’s just ligament pain and just leave the room. I don’t know if you are picking up one leg and it is extremely painful, a physical therapist can help you. Ask for a referral if they will not give you a referral, just go and pay the money. 100% have been worth it for you to just go and pay the money rather than waiting for two years of pure pain every time I sat for an extended period of time.
[00:24:23.570] – Hilary Erickson
So this comes in all different shapes and sizes and forms, and I think the pants thing is the best option though, so I hope you guys enjoyed this week’s episode and I hope we realize how important our pelvises are. Big fan of my pelvis. It does a great job normally.
[00:24:38.200] – Hilary Erickson
Thanks so much for joining us on today’s episode. We know you have lots of options for your ears and we are glad that you chose us. We drop episodes weekly and until next time, we hope you have a tangle free day.
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