Various Random Thoughts and Resources

First of all, this: SPD sufferers birth stories

The link above is a 3-page thread that has several different ladies sharing their birth stories, and the SPD varies from intermediate to severe degrees for each of them. The thing to learn from this is mainly that giving birth doesn’t have to be terribly scary, but it’s also nice to see others “commiserating.” I am bummed that it’s a year and a half old thread, I wish the SPD board on BabyCenter.com was more active.

Secondly, I put myself out again this past Friday: all I did was get up from the couch, but I felt the PS area and hips SCREAM (one hip was apparently higher/more out in front than the other) although the pain didn’t actually last for more than just the moment it happened. The hips did this weird “wobbly” thing when it happened. I’m not even sure how to describe it beyond that. I was able to get around without the crutches until I went out for lunch, where I should have brought the crutches in and didn’t. While eating and chatting after I sat in a fairly uncomfortable bar chair for 2 and a half hours, and then it was all downhill from there. I was in a ton of pain later in the day, to the point that I couldn’t really enjoy the awesome meal and band we went out to see. I started to do okay on Sunday morning, finally, and actually went shopping a little bit with my daughter later in the afternoon (I used the crutches, I didn’t want to test walking that far and there was just enough pain while shopping that I’m glad I didn’t). Saturday was a very tough day for me emotionally. I was tired, in pain, mad that I had “hurt” myself again, and my pregnancy hormones must’ve been at an all-time high, because I was raging and depressed and teary all at the same time. I wanted to go shopping, be with people, stay away from people (especially my family), didn’t want to go anywhere because it just seemed like too much effort, etc. I was a mess. Gotta love those pregnancy hormones! I’m lucky that I *usually* don’t have the mood swings.

Third, by today I was feeling well enough to try a workout again. I’m now sitting at a grand ol’ total of one “productive” workout a week! *Sarcastic fist pump* Hopefully I won’t be quite so sore tomorrow, since I won’t be getting an ASTYM treatment from the PT.

So, here’s what I did (sorry, no pictures this time):

2×3 Stability Ball Wall Squats (more like a 1/4 squat, as I couldn’t come down very far, but I would hold the 1/4 squat for ~10 seconds).

2×15 Push-ups off the wall (the barre was unavailable, so I worked with what I had!)

*Again, I cycled between these two exercises before moving on.*

4×10 Seated Chest Press Machine

*rest 45 sec between sets

4×15 Seated Back Row

*rest 45 sec between sets

3×60 sec Hangs from the pull-up bar (~15 seconds at different width holds: wide, narrow, palm in- this was more for grip strength, but I’d love to see what kind of pull-up I can work up to- if any- by the time June rolls around. I was able to do a few last summer, but didn’t keep up with training the pull-ups throughout the morning sickness period and have lost it all. If nothing else, preserve that upper body strength!)

*60 sec break between sets

~5 minute break, seated on a comfortable chair, as my hips were getting unhappy at that point.

Various times/reps Stability Ball Rollouts/Stiff armed plank on knees

Various reps Pelvic Tilts (it was not very many, as I could tell my body was pretty much done.)

So again, the entire workout had my hips completely stabilized or not in use but dang if those seats aren’t just uncomfortable enough to cause issues. I’m lucky that my gym has a comfortable chair nearby to be seated in. I didn’t break a sweat again, but at least those muscles are seeing more use than just propelling me along on the crutches. This time, I avoided lower body exercises after the 1/4 squats because I could feel some irritation and didn’t feel secure enough in pushing anything, especially since I was feeling pretty good this morning! Hit up the chiro after and am a bit sore now, but am trying to stay active and that helps alleviate some pain.

I’m also going to work on doing many more random “mini workouts” throughout the day if I’m feeling up to it. I truly am done with the whole “rest it off” thing and want to preserve the muscle I haven’t yet lost!

SPD Workout #1

So, the Physical Therapist gave me permission to lay the crutches to one side yesterday. She wants me to keep them handy and nearby, and use them if I get any pain (ANY pain). Also, exercise restrictions were lifted! Whoohoo!

So I was able to actually do a “workout” this morning. Nothing much, didn’t even break a sweat, but at least some upper body muscles were able to do some work. The one thing to remember: even getting on and off a machine can aggravate the hips/pubic symphysis.

Also, I’m not usually a machine-type person (actually I tend to avoid them like the plague, because having your body stabilize itself during exercise is a great thing- usually). However, the key with keeping my SPD under control is to keep from forcing my hips to stabilize anything.

Now, since I’m only going off my own experiences with SPD for this workout, if you follow it, please be a judge of your own pain levels. Some of the stuff I do may aggravate yours, or I may be pretty limited in what I can do compared to what you may be able to! So use the guidelines on my “Treatment” page when trying exercise yourself, if what I’m doing does not work for you. But unless your PT/physician has put you on total exercise restriction, continuing to move even with SPD is a good thing. Exercise will help prevent atrophy of the muscles, and may help your recovery from birth. I know for me it helps my entire body sane. Already by Monday, I could tell my body was starting to mutiny!