✓ Written & medically reviewed by Dr. Molly McDonald, PT, DPT, LMT · Updated December 2, 2023

I was expecting lower back pain when I got pregnant. I wasn’t expecting side pain almost like my “love handles” hurt. It hurts when I lay on my sides or when I stand for to long. After thinking about why my sides would be so uncomfortable I came up with a few causes and an exercise to help.

1. The rib cage of pregnant women expand to increase the available space for your growing baby. Crazy right! This expansion means your muscles have to stretch too.
2. Your hips expand and become less stable which cause your back and side muscles to work more to stabilize your spine and hips

Both of these facts could be the cause of my and your side pain!

You are not crazy!  You are uncomfortable and for very good reasons. But that doesn’t mean that we have to be increasingly more uncomfortable as our pregnancy progresses. Try the stretch in my video for 2-3 days you will be surprised at the difference you feel. At least I was surprised.

Now if you don’t have any relief or minimal relief from this stretch that doesn’t mean that you are just doomed.  It just means this exercise wasn’t the right one for you. It is impossible to properly diagnosis and treat everyone without a personal assessment.

Some might be tempted to say that they will suffer during their pregnancy because the pain will just go away after the baby is delivered. Unfortunately, for many women that is not the case. Their pain continues causing them to change how they move their bodies. That is how a small problem becomes a large problem.

When you alter how you move you strain other body parts. Now, how much strain and how fast that strain will cause a problem is hard to say. But it never easy or convenient to be injured as a mom. If you are dealing with a pregnancy ache or pain let a specialist Physical Therapist help you get back to fully enjoying your pregnancy and your baby.

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Real results from active adults in Cypress, TX

“Dr. Molly has done an outstanding job restoring my leg/hip strength levels to pre-2020 levels in less than a year. I am a competitive powerlifter and am back to deadlifting over 400 lbs.”

“I’m a 39-year-old runner who reached out to Dr. Molly with a nagging knee issue. She gave me several exercises to help alleviate my pain — and once I followed her plan, things turned around.”

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