Pelvic girdle pain (PGP), sometimes called symphysis pubis dysfunction (SPD), affects a significant number of pregnant women — for some it’s a mild ache, for others it’s severe enough to affect walking, turning over in bed, or getting in and out of the car.
If you’ve been told it’s “just something that happens in pregnancy” and left to manage it alone, there’s more that can genuinely help than you may have been led to believe.
What Pelvic Girdle Pain Actually Is
PGP occurs when the joints and ligaments of the pelvis — which naturally soften and become more mobile during pregnancy under the influence of the hormone relaxin — become painful or mechanically irritated, often due to uneven load or muscle imbalance around the pelvis rather than the joint laxity itself being the problem.
Common symptoms include pain around the pubic bone, lower back, hips, or groin, often worse with:
- Walking
- Climbing stairs
- Standing on one leg (for example, getting dressed)
- Turning over in bed
Why Massage Alone Sometimes Isn’t Enough — But Often Helps a Great Deal
Massage can meaningfully ease PGP by reducing the muscular tension and compensatory tightness that builds up around the pelvis, hips and lower back as your body tries to protect and stabilise the area.
This can bring genuine relief, particularly for milder to moderate symptoms.
Where massage from a physiotherapy-trained clinician has an added advantage is recognising when PGP needs more than soft tissue work — for example, additional pelvic stability exercises, taping, or manual joint treatment — and being able to guide you toward that next step rather than leaving you to work it out alone.
Practical Things That Help Alongside Massage
- Keeping your knees together when turning over in bed or getting in/out of the car
- Avoiding activities that involve standing on one leg for extended periods where possible
- Sitting to get dressed rather than standing on one leg
- Using a pillow between your knees when sleeping on your side
- Gentle, appropriate movement rather than complete rest, which can allow supporting muscles to weaken further
When to Seek a Fuller Assessment
If your pain is significant, worsening, or affecting your ability to walk or sleep, a massage-only approach isn’t enough on its own — this is when a broader Women’s Health Physiotherapy assessment is genuinely worthwhile, to properly assess your pelvic stability and build a complete treatment plan alongside massage for symptom relief.
Managing pelvic girdle pain or SPD in pregnancy? Book a physiotherapy-led pregnancy massage in Handforth and get relief from clinicians who understand what’s actually happening.