Rib pain during pregnancy is a common discomfort you may experience during all trimesters of the pregnancy. Understanding causes and effective management strategies of rib pain during pregnancy helps you to relief the discomfort during pregnancy.
Causes of Rib Pain during Pregnancy:
During each trimester, you may experience rib pain due to several causes. Hormonal changes, pressure from growing baby and the position of the fetus cause to increased discomfort as the pregnancy progresses.
Hormonal Changes:
Relaxin is a pregnancy hormone that loosen pelvic ligaments and joints to prepare your body for the child birth. This leads to left rib pain during pregnancy first trimester and causes discomfort during pregnancy.
Pressure from the Growing Baby:
As the pregnancy progress, uterus expands due to the growing baby. During the third trimester, it pushes upward. This causes pressure on ribcage and diaphragm gets compressed leading to difficulty breathing. The ribcage itself widen to provide more space to growing baby. This causes soreness and left rib pain during pregnancy third trimester due to stretching in surrounding muscles and ligaments.
Baby’s Position and Movements:
Your baby can position head-down with feet pressing against your rib cage. During the third trimester, baby’s movements such as stretching and kicking can also impact on your rib cage leading pain in rib cage during pregnancy.
Postural Changes:
Expanding uterus and additional weight lead to shift in the center of gravity during pregnancy. This leads to alter your posture leading to back rib pain during pregnancy and tailbone pain during pregnancy.
Urinary Tract Infections (UTIs):
During pregnancy, you may experience infections in the urinary tract and can affect the kidneys. Rib pain is a symptom of UTIs that you cannot ignore during pregnancy. Other symptoms of UTIs are fever, back pain and painful urination.
Constipation:
You may experience constipation during pregnancy due to hormonal changes and increased pressure on the intestines. This leads to bloating and discomfort that radiates to the ribcage causing left rib pain during pregnancy.
Heartburn:
Your progesterone levels and pressure from the growing uterus increase during pregnancy. This contribute to burning sensation in your ribcage area due to acid reflux and heartburn.
How to Manage Rib Pain during Pregnancy:
You can manage your rib pain during pregnancy to improve your quality of life.
Maintain a Good Posture:
You can maintain a good posture with the help of supportive chairs with good lumbar support. Sitting and standing with proper alignment is important to reduce the rib pain during pregnancy.
You can try sleeping on the left side with a pillow to improve spine alignment and leads to reduce rib pain during pregnancy. When you sleep, try to sleep with a pillow under your bump and between your legs to reduce the pressure on your ribcage.
Wear Supportive Bras:
You can wear a well-fitting, supportive bra to reduce the pressure on your rib cage. Maternity bras are designed with soft, stretchy fabrics and wider bands to reduce the pain from tight clothing.
Practice Pregnancy Yoga:
Pregnancy yoga can improve your posture and flexibility through gentle stretching and strengthening exercises. Cat-cow stretches, side stretches and chest openers can reduce rib pain during pregnancy and back rib pain during pregnancy.
Apply Heat or Cold Packs:
You can relieve your rib pain during pregnancy by applying a hot water or cold pack on the affected area. Heat therapy can relax your tightened muscles and cold therapy can reduce inflammation. You can apply heat and cold treatments alternatively to provide additional relief to the ribcage. Using a cloth between the skin and the heat or cold pack is important to avoid burns or frostbite.
Consulting a Physiotherapist:
Physical therapy can include gentle stretching exercises to relieve bad rib pain during pregnancy. Physical therapists determine the root cause and design stretching techniques or breathing exercises tailored for you.
Preventive Measures for Rib Pain during Pregnancy:
You can maintain a good posture while practicing regular stretching and gentle exercises to prevent from rib pain during pregnancy. Avoiding sitting for long period and using a supportive cushion also helps you to prevent back rib pain during pregnancy. You can eat more fiber containing foods to prevent from constipation to prevent from rib pain during pregnancy.
When to Visit Your Doctor:
Rib pain during pregnancy is a normal condition during your journey to become a mother. You can take several steps to manage your pain in the rib cage during pregnancy. But, in some conditions, you have to seek medical advice. If the rib pain is intense and you have shortness of breath, then visit your doctor as soon as possible. Pain during urination, and cloudy urine pregnancy, are also conditions to visit your doctor.