Sciatica Pain During Pregnancy: Symptoms, Causes and Treatment

Nurturing a life inside you for nine months is not easy. Pregnancy comes with its own set of challenges and excitement. In fact, morning sickness, cramps, and pains are common pregnancy discomforts. Talking more about pain, you may either feel a dull and throbbing pain in the middle of your back or on your buttock, or a writhing pain on the nerve of your back. This pain is due to sciatica during pregnancy.

Continue reading this article to get some more detail on sciatic nerve pain while you’re pregnant.

What Is Sciatica Nerve Pain During Pregnancy?

The sciatic nerve is the largest in your body. It starts from your lower back, goes down your buttock, and extends to your ankles and feet. When you have sciatica nerve pain, you are most likely to feel either a deep and dull pain or shooting pain in your buttock and hip.

During pregnancy, around 1% of you suffer from Sciatica nerve pain. Sciatica nerve pain during your pregnancy is also known as lumbosacral radicular syndrome. You are most likely to get this pain during the third trimester when the growing uterus and foetus exert pressure on the sciatic nerve causing inflammation, pain, and irritation.

What Causes Sciatic Nerve Pain During Pregnancy?

Not just in the later part of your pregnancy, you can feel sciatica pain at any time during early pregnancy. If you are feeling this pain, the reasons are as follows:

Compression Of Sciatic Nerve

During your pregnancy, your body releases relaxin hormones. These hormones relax your ligaments and keep your pelvis ready for labour and childbirth. The weak ligaments and expansion of the uterus press the sciatica nerves, thus causing shooting pain in your leg.

A Herniated or Slipped Disc

Due to the additional pressure on your uterus, bulging or herniated discs in the lumbar spine give rise to Sciatica nerve pain during pregnancy.

Weight Gain During Pregnancy

Your being obese before or during pregnancy exerts pressure on your spinal cord and the back muscles, thus causing pain.

Pre-existing Lower Back Pain

If you had a history of back pain before your pregnancy, you may have a high chance of getting sciatic nerve pain symptoms while carrying your baby inside you. Additionally, the fluctuating pregnancy hormones which make the muscles, joints, and ligaments lose during pregnancy, can make you more susceptible to causing sciatica.

An Injury During Pregnancy

As the center of gravity shifts with the progression of your pregnancy, a previous injury may spring up leading to sciatica. 

If You Had a Weak Core Before Your Pregnancy

The core of a human body is formed by the abdominal and back muscles. If you had a weak core during your pre-pregnancy days, you are more susceptible to developing symptoms of sciatica nerve pain.

Change In The Baby’s Position

Your baby’s position inside you might change during the trimester and move to the birthing position. In that case, your baby’s head might be near the sciatica nerve, thus giving rise to pain.

Excessive Bleeding

Yes! Sciatica can be caused by excessive bleeding, which is always a risk during pregnancy.

What Are The Symptoms Of Sciatica Nerve Pain During Pregnancy? 

Since this pain can range from mild to severe, the symptoms of sciatica nerve pain during pregnancy include:

• A burning sensation in the legs and back.
• Numbness, and weakness in leg or foot.
• Poor bladder control.
• You may also face difficulty while you’re walking, sitting, or standing.

How To Get Relief From Sciatica Pain In Pregnancy? 

When you feel these symptoms in you, immediately consult your healthcare provider who will give you the following:

• Medicines and injections to relieve your pain, based on your pain level.
  
• Your healthcare provider may take you through an exercise program to give you relief from your pain:

1. Light back stretching. Well! Stretching exercises during pregnancy like The piriformis stretch and The table stretch, may help you out.
   
2. Try doing prenatal yoga. This indeed is a low impact way to help you stay active and relieve your leg pain. In fact, in this case, child pose is meant to restore your back and thigh muscles.
   
3. A gentle massage can also keep this pregnancy discomfort at bay.
   
4. Alternately use a hot and cold compress on the painful areas.
   
5. Take short walks.
   
6. Take naps.
   
7. Consult your physician for a healthy diet and exercise plan.

Sciatica is undoubtedly very painful. Your awareness from the very beginning can help you manage the situation.