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Top Injuries Felt by Moms and Moms-to-Be: Other Pains

Top Injuries Felt by Moms and Moms-to-Be: Other Pains

Caroline McIntosh-Iwasaki RMT

While we love our babies, we also know that having a baby sometimes brings along all sorts of aches and pains.

Caroline McIntosh-Iwasaki has a lot of experience helping moms get their bodies back in shape after pregnancy. This article is her third and final in a series on injuries moms and moms-to-be often experience. Today, she discusses thumb, wrist, elbow, knee and foot pain.

Thumb, wrist and elbow pain

Many new moms experience conditions like Dequervain’s Tenosynovitis, carpal tunnel syndrome, tennis elbow and golfer’s elbow—conditions that cause pain in the bottom of the thumb, the underside of the wrist and either sides of the elbow respectively.

For mothers, these are common complaints because of carrying around their new little bundles and the constant act of feeding them. Just think of the time you spend holding your baby—when have you ever held something so much? The closest comparison in our pre-motherhood lives would be a purse, and this already causes shoulder pain for a lot of women. Now add a baby and all their gear and you’ve got a heavy load you’re carrying around. Yes, babies are small, but the repetition and duration that we hold them for hurts us.

And even if you haven’t had your baby yet, you may be one of the many pregnant mothers who are starting to feel this already due to their jobs and the laxity that occurs in tendons due to hormones.

The reality is, we love holding our babies, and we’re not going to stop. But don’t worry, you don’t have to if you strengthen your arms and shoulders and practice proper posture.

As always, prevention is your best defence, but all of these conditions are fixable.

Knee and foot pain

The knees and feet are not usually areas which sustain serious injuries in pre- or post- motherhood (unless other factors or injuries are involved), but they can cause discomfort.

Achy/swollen feet occur at some point in a number of pregnancies, especially near the end of term. Several simple steps can help relieve these symptoms like:
•    raising your feet at the end of the day
•    applying cool packs with feet elevated
•    using compression stockings
•    getting a foot rub (whenever you receive a massage from a loved one, make sure they massage toward the heart to promote proper circulation)

Swelling can also be reduced by drinking more water and reducing salt intake, exercising regularly, and moving throughout the day.

Knee pain is a little more complicated because there are a number of reasons why this would occur, mainly due to changes in walking pattern and weight distribution. This should be properly assessed by a health professional before a plan of action can be taken.

A final thought

These injuries all may sound a little overwhelming but they do not all occur to everybody, and hopefully none will be felt at all. All are preventable and treatable with regular exercise, strength training and postural awareness. It will take effort, but living a healthy life and having a strong body is important during pregnancy and extremely important for the lives of our children who depend on us.

PhysioWorks is a progressive multidisciplinary clinic offering physiotherapy, massage therapy, and active rehabilitation services to Kitsilano, Point Grey, and surrounding communities. Our team is dedicated to providing quality care through effective and customized treatment programs. For more information, please visit our website at www.ptworks.ca.

Originally from Ontario, Caroline McIntosh-Iwasaki RMT began her practice in 2002. Her love of Vancouver brought her here in 2007 where she now happily works and resides in Kitsilano with her husband and son.

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