Pelvic Girdle Pain in Pregnancy, Explained

If turning over in bed makes you wince, climbing stairs feels like a one-leg-at-a-time effort, and there's a deep ache in the front of your pelvis or in your buttock — that's not generic pregnancy back pain. That's pelvic girdle pain (PGP), and it affects roughly one in five pregnant women. It deserves to be named, because it responds to different management than ordinary lumbar pain.

What PGP Actually Is

Pelvic girdle pain was formerly called symphysis pubis dysfunction (SPD), but the newer term is more accurate because the condition isn't limited to the pubic joint. The pelvis has three joints — two sacroiliac (SI) joints at the back and the pubic symphysis at the front — and all three become hypermobile during pregnancy under the influence of relaxin. When that mobility exceeds what the surrounding muscles can stabilise, the joints move slightly out of alignment with each step, each turn, each shift of weight. That asymmetric motion is what creates the pain.

How to Identify It

• Pain in the front of the pelvis (the pubic bone area) or deep in one buttock, sometimes both.
• Pain that's worse when turning over in bed — often the most distinctive sign.
• Pain when climbing stairs, especially leading with one leg.
• Pain when putting on pants or socks while standing on one leg.
• Pain when getting out of a car by swinging both legs to one side.
• A clicking or grinding sensation at the pubic bone or SI joints when walking.

If most of these resonate, you're likely dealing with PGP rather than general lumbar pain — and the management is different.

Movement Do's and Don'ts

• Do keep your knees together when turning over in bed (rolling like a log), sit down to dress, take stairs one at a time leading with the same leg, and keep movements symmetrical.
• Avoid single-leg standing, deep squats, the breaststroke kick (asymmetric leg movement), and any exercise that involves wide leg abduction. These movements stress the very joints that have become unstable.

The general rule: think symmetry. Anything that asks one leg to do something different from the other tends to flare PGP.

How Chiropractic Helps

Because PGP is fundamentally a pelvic alignment and stability problem, gentle restoration of pelvic balance is exactly what tends to help. The Webster technique is a side-lying, low-force approach specifically developed for pregnant women — it addresses sacral and pelvic alignment without any twisting, with no pressure on the abdomen, and with no force that could risk the unstable joints. In our clinical experience, many patients with PGP report meaningful relief within a handful of sessions.

Chiropractic doesn't replace pelvic-floor physiotherapy, which is also valuable for PGP — the two complement each other. The chiropractor addresses the joint alignment; the physiotherapist addresses the muscular stability around it. Used together, the outcomes are usually better than either alone. Our pregnancy care page goes into more detail on the Webster approach, and the Gonstead exam process is designed to identify exactly which joints are involved.

If PGP is interfering with your sleep, your work, or simply being able to walk to the kitchen, it's worth being assessed. We see pregnant patients across Sunway Geo, Sri Petaling, and Kota Damansara. WhatsApp your nearest branch and we'll book you in.