After I had #1, my back hurt. Perhaps it was because I spent the first 5 months of his life trying to soothe him via rocking, standing & bouncing, going for walks, etc., etc. Mostly what I know is that one day I woke up with my back in such a sorry state that it hurt to breathe. It was time to do something about it. I went to a physical therapist who gave me exercises to strengthen my back. However, if I skipped a day or two I would completely relapse. It was as if I couldn't hold onto the muscle I was trying to build for more than a day. She told me to have X-rays to ensure there wasn't more wrong. I did. There wasn't. My time with the therapist ran out (according to my insurance) so that was that for a while.
When I was pregnant with #2, I again woke up one day and my back was out. I suffered through it & was up and around again after a couple days.
Following #2 my back was still in sorry shape, but that's life, right? I'm a mom with 2 little guys under 3 and I'm bound to have issues. I'd get the occasional massage and life would be good again...for a bit. Then I finally felt up to getting back into shape so I started running. My ankles started hurting. Yes-ankles! I am feeling old. Then the knees. Mind you-I wasn't even running far or much. Nothing like before kids. I found I had to do Yoga at least once a week to keep my back in a manageable state. As it was bound to, it eventually went out again. This time I went to a chiropractor. He started looking at my feet & declared that I over-pronate. Next thing I know he's talking orthopedic shoes. Yikes! However, he's also talking about a plan of stretches & exercises to get me where I need to be and it occurs to me that I should go to a physical therapist instead since my insurance covers physical therapists (and not chiropractors).
Enter physical therapist (aka the angel). He immediately starts looking at my hips. Turns out one of them is rotated back, rendering that leg shorter than the other, which is leading to the back and knee issues. After a series of awkward stretches and movements, he gets my hips back into place. I feel good as new! The problem with me is that my joints move easily so I regularly pop back out, but it's relatively easy to pop me back in again. I've gotten stronger and I've also found it helps to sleep with a pillow under my leg so I don't pop out as often as I used to. Sometimes I can even get my hips to pop back in on my own.
I share this story because I can't tell you how many women I've run into who have the same issue. I also have run into a number of women who are having issues like the ones I was having & have yet to find the physical therapist who correctly diagnoses the problem. I hope that this post finds its way to a few women that really benefit from it! If you have problems, determine if one hip bone is higher than the other when you lay down. If so, find a good physical therapist! When we feel good, it sure helps as we strive to be perfect (or maybe just decent) moms!
