January 2009

PostingComing soon to a park near you....

Have joined a local exercise class that gets a group of new mums running round the park pushing their babies in buggies as they go. There's nothing like that shared sense of us all experiencing the same pelvic sagginess that the classes are designed to correct. In full formation we make quite a sight. As you might imagine, there's no shortage of comments from passers-by, almost all supportive, if also amused. "Holidays are over, girls," shouted one old lady to us, giggling as we trundled past. Another shook her head as she saw us, turned to her dog, then said: "You couldn't make this up." Someone else yelled over: "Well done!" and I wanted to hug her. New daughter (blog name yet to be decided) was delighted with the entertainment provided and grinned her appreciation at me from her cocoon. When all the mothers lay down on their waterproof mats for floor exercises she became a little fretful, obviously worried the power-walkers had taken mummy hostage, since I was out of sight to her up in the buggy. But she settled again quickly when I took her down from her buggy onto the picnic blanket with me. This is one of the areas where a class like this scores so highly - you can combine it with childcare, no need to arrange babysitting or beg a partner to watch the baby. It's obviously weather-dependent and classes are sometimes rained off (though the instructor was saying they'd been out in Edinburgh's January snow a week earlier) but people get round cold weather by running in gloves, hats, thermals and even leg-warmers. Theoretically, I could save money by running around the park on my own with daughter and buggy and get the same benefits, but I wouldn't have the nerve to do it alone and, in any case, it's more fun with other people. Edinburgh park-goers - you have been warned.

Posted 14 January 2009 16:55 | Number of comments: 7 | Comments

Activities Mother Edinburgh Fun Out and about

PostingThe good news - it's treatable

Went for physio yesterday at this excellent establishment for my pelvic pain, one of the less welcome legacies from pregnancy. The physios there have won a well-deserved reputation for working wonders in women's health by usng a pioneering range of techniques for treating pelvic pain both during and after pregnancy. I've heard only good things about the practice and it was easy to see why people speak so highly of them. After two treatments I'm now able to get up from a chair and walk, no longer any pain involved.

Physiotherapist and founder Helen Thomson set up her practice more than 15 years ago after study overseas introduced her to innovative methods of treating pelvic pain. She realised that techniques available in this country weren't as effective as those she'd seen in other countries and so established Thomson Physiotherapy, now based in a tiny village near Falkirk in Scotland.

It was an old friend, co-founder of the Pelvic Partnership, a charity to help women with this condition, who chivvied me into going for physio. When she first suggested the idea, I explained I'd already been to see hospital physios, all of whom were very nice and who had given me exercises and advice. Not good enough, she said. "You need hands-on therapy. This condition is treatable. Phone around and find people who will do hands-on manual treatment."

As I was saying in an earlier posting, there's a common misconception that no treatment exists for pelvic pain in pregnancy and that prolonged pain and immobility is something people just have to endure until delivery. Or even beyond. Wonderful and supportive though my doctors in pregnancy were, none of them told me that my shuffling, hobbling gait was something that could be treated. In fact, appropriate and early physiotherapy, using manual techniques, can minimise pain and keep women mobile throughout pregnancy. Sadly, this type of physio isn't yet widely available in the NHS, for all its many strengths.

A new charity, called PINS, set up in 2007 by GP Moira Finlayson following her own battles with pelvic pain in pregnancy, is working to promote awareness of the problem (also sometimes known as SPD), and to support women and their families affected by the condition. Their site includes intelligent, thoughtful accounts of what it's like to live with pelvic pain and is well worth a visit.

Posted 08 January 2009 11:07 | Number of comments: 13 | Comments

Pregnancy Pelvic girdle pain/SPD