Part of Pregnancy back and pelvic pain

What should you avoid with pelvic girdle pain?

The honest answer to what to avoid with pelvic girdle pain is not much outright, and almost everything with a change of method. One pattern runs through the whole list: the pain turns up when your two legs are doing different things, so standing on one leg to dress, swinging one leg out of the car, the split second on each stair, and rolling one knee across the other in bed are the usual culprits. The fix for each of those is to make it symmetrical rather than to stop doing it. The genuine avoid list in the national guidance is short. The NHS says not to lift anything heavy such as full shopping bags, and to limit long spells of sitting or standing and frequent stair climbing. The RCOG adds twisting while you carry a child on one hip, and not sitting for more than 30 minutes at a time. POGP advises against sitting with your legs crossed or tucked underneath you, and against pushing through activities that make your pain worse. The HSE is the firmest on exercise: do not run or do any high-impact exercise if you have pelvic girdle pain, and POGP adds that pregnancy is not the time to take up a new high-impact sport. Everything else here is a change of technique, and the distinction matters because nobody can avoid getting out of bed, dressing, driving or using the stairs for the rest of a pregnancy. What you can avoid is doing those things one leg at a time. And if your pain is already past the point where a technique list helps, that is a referral rather than a reason to try harder: ask your midwife or doctor about a pelvic health physiotherapy assessment, and tell them which jobs you have stopped being able to do.

Warning signs, and when to get help

What to avoid with pelvic girdle pain, and what to change instead

Avoid lists are easy to write and hard to live with. A pregnant woman cannot stop getting out of bed, dressing herself, getting into a car or using the stairs, so an avoid list with all four on it has told her nothing she can use. The more honest division is between the few things worth dropping for now and the many things worth doing differently.

The drop-for-now list, taken from the national guidance rather than from habit, is genuinely short. Heavy lifting, including full shopping bags, is on it (NHS). Running and high-impact exercise are on it, and the HSE's wording is direct: do not run or do any high-impact exercise if you have pelvic girdle pain. Twisting while you carry a child on one hip is on it (RCOG). Sitting with your legs crossed or tucked underneath you is on it (POGP), as is sitting for more than about 30 minutes at a stretch (RCOG).

On impact our sources are worded differently, so it is worth seeing all three. WA Health's version is walk rather than run and step rather than jump. POGP's is narrower, that pregnancy is not the time to take up a new high-impact sport or exercise. The HSE's is the firmest, and the firmest is the one we follow: impact stays out while the pain is active, and when it goes back in is a decision for your own physio.

Everything else below is a change of method. The reason to think of it that way is not positive thinking, it is that the alternative does not work: a list of prohibitions covering half of normal life gets abandoned within a week, usually along with the useful parts. The pregnancy back and pelvic pain program and its daily movement section are the companion to this page, and this one goes task by task where that one sets out the principles.

The movements that hurt most, and why

The program's main idea is worth borrowing before the task list, because it does more work than any individual tip. Pelvic girdle pain is provoked when the two sides of your pelvis are being asked to do different jobs at the same moment. POGP names standing on one leg while dressing or on the stairs, and moving the legs apart getting in and out of bed or a car, among the activities that most often hurt; the NHS names standing on one leg and moving your legs apart; and the European guideline records that endurance for standing, walking and sitting drops (Vleeming 2008).

Once you have that, you can work out the answer for a job nobody has written advice for. Ask whether the movement puts all your weight through one leg, whether it takes your knees away from each other, and whether it adds a twist. Then remove whichever of those you can: sit down for it, bring your knees together, or turn by moving your feet. If your pain is reliably on one side, the same question is worth asking about which direction you habitually turn, step up and get out of bed, and pelvic girdle pain on one side covers that pattern.

Three ordinary tasks, worked through properly:

Getting out of bed. Bend both knees up together, keep them touching or hold a pillow between them, roll your shoulders, hips and knees across as one piece, then push up with your arms and let both feet reach the floor together. WA Health's guidance is to turn to your side and push up with your hands rather than sitting straight up. The log roll breaks it into steps worth rehearsing in the daytime, because at 3am you will do whatever has become automatic. Nights have their own set of problems, and how to sleep with pelvic girdle pain covers the pillow set-up and turning over in more detail than there is room for here.

The car. Sit onto the seat first, with your back to the cabin, then turn your whole body as one unit and swing both legs in together with your knees and ankles close. WA Health suggests a plastic bag or a smooth cover on the seat so you can pivot instead of shuffling, which is the detail that makes the difference in a car with cloth seats.

Dressing. Sit down for underwear, trousers, socks and shoes, every time, which the NHS, the RCOG and WA Health all advise. Hooking a foot up onto the opposite knee while seated is still a one-leg-at-a-time movement, so bring the clothing to the foot rather than the foot to your hands where you can.

Which exercises should you avoid with pelvic girdle pain?

The exercise question has a cleaner answer than the daily-life one, because the provoking positions are the same ones a gym class is full of. Single-leg standing, lunges and step-ups, side leg lifts, clamshells and wide-legged stretches all either load one side or open the legs, and the pregnancy program leaves them out on the strength of the NHS and POGP lists. The piriformis or figure-four stretch, the one women are most often handed for sciatica, does both at once, and sciatica in pregnancy or pelvic girdle pain explains why so many women end up with that routine in the first place. Exercises to avoid with sciatica is the non-pregnant version of that list.

Two more come out for reasons that are less obvious. Squeezing a ball or cushion between the knees is left out of the program because the inner thigh muscles attach close to the joint at the front of the pelvis, which is often the sore spot. And impact work is out while the pain is active: the HSE says not to run or do high-impact exercise, and WA Health asks you to walk rather than run and step rather than jump. Impact does not come back the day the baby arrives, either. POGP's booklet asks you to avoid high-impact activity such as aerobics for at least three months after the birth, and the postnatal core and pelvic floor program sets out what has to be comfortable before running goes back in.

Two things sit outside the pelvis question and still apply to you. Positions flat on your back are limited later in pregnancy for a reason that has nothing to do with your pelvis, and the program sets out that limit and its sources. The program's own what to avoid or change section also carries the wider pregnancy cautions about particular sports, activities and heated exercise rooms, which hold whatever your pelvis is doing. Exercises to avoid with low back pain covers the non-pregnant version of this question, and lifting weights with a weak pelvic floor is the page if you have been strength training and want to keep going.

Can you still exercise at all?

Yes, and the guidance wants you to. The HSE says it is important to stay fit during pregnancy and suggests pregnancy pilates for posture and core stability, with pregnancy yoga modified so that single-leg stances and wide stances are replaced by positions where your weight is spread evenly. WA Health asks you to keep exercising to maintain strength in the tummy, buttock, thigh and pelvic floor muscles.

What the program actually asks of you is modest, and deliberately so. As a starting guide, the gentle pelvic and back movements often begin at 5 to 10 slow repetitions once or more a day, the pelvic floor squeeze at 8 to 10 slow repetitions three times a day, and sit to stand at 2 to 3 sets of 5 to 10, with the wall squat at 2 to 3 sets of 8 to 12 slow slides a few days a week. The seated pelvic tilt is the one most women can do on a bad day, because it asks nothing of your legs at all. Your physio will adjust this, and you may need to do less as the pregnancy goes on rather than more.

Read those numbers as a ceiling to work up to rather than a target for day one, because this is the page people arrive at wanting a rule. Start with however few you can do without the pain rising, which on a bad day may be a couple of repetitions of one exercise, or none at all. More is not better here: the program is built to be done little and often rather than pushed. Stop an exercise if it brings on pain while you do it, and leave it out and tell your midwife or physio if it brings on pain that is still there that evening or the next morning. Check with your midwife or doctor before you start, and if even the gentlest of these hurts, that is a reason to be assessed rather than to work harder at it.

Walking is its own decision and the sources differ in tone. The HSE says that if you get pain during or after walking you should listen to your body and limit walking to what is necessary, and that if walking is pain-free you should stay inside your comfort zone and adapt as the pregnancy goes on. In practice the stride is a better thing to change first than the distance: smaller steps, a pace you could talk at, and something to lean on. Leaning on a shopping cart, a stroller, a wheeled chair or crutches takes load off the pelvis, which WA Health suggests and which is worth doing before you decide you cannot go out. One caution about our own library: the walking page is written for people building up to a brisk pace, and the program's own notes explain which parts of it to set aside while your pelvis is sore.

Swimming, and the breaststroke question

Water is the best swap available when land hurts, because it supports your body weight and takes pressure off the pelvic joints. The stroke is where the guidance reads differently, depending on which national service you ask.

WA Health's physiotherapy guidance says not to kick with breaststroke, which it calls a frog kick, and suggests a flutter or dolphin kick, walking forwards and backwards in the water, or exercising at the pool edge. The HSE does not mention the breaststroke at all. The strokes it names as helpful are front crawl and gentle walking in the water, and its method for the rest is to test: different strokes can sometimes cause pain, so do one stroke per swim session to find any that upsets it, and then do whichever stroke is comfortable for you.

So the answer is the firmer one, which is also what the main program says: leave the breaststroke kick out, and use a flutter kick, walk in the water, or work at the pool edge instead. Notice that this is not a stroke either service recommends. WA Health rules it out by name, the HSE's own named strokes are the other two, and the kick repeats the exact movement everything above asks you to design out, moving your legs wide apart, over and over, under load, which makes it the worst available place to start a trial. Testing the other strokes one per session, the HSE's way, is a reasonable method for those.

Does pelvic girdle pain get worse if you keep going?

The whole avoid list rests on this question, and it deserves a straight answer. The guidance we have treats pacing as a way to control pain, not as a way to prevent damage. POGP advises against getting all your jobs done in one go and against pushing through activities that make the pain worse, and suggests spreading tasks out with rest in between. The NHS puts it as keeping active, avoiding the things that make your pain worse, and resting when you can.

Nothing we could read says that walking, climbing stairs or getting on with your day injures the pelvic joints, and the RCOG states that pelvic girdle pain, painful as it can be, will not harm your baby. So the fear that sits behind the question, that you have been making it worse, is not supported by the sources. Pain that builds through a day fits what the European guideline describes, which is reduced endurance for standing, walking and sitting (Vleeming 2008), and it is why the same movement can cost more at 7pm than it did at 8am.

That reassurance is about pelvic girdle pain, and it holds for as long as that is what you have. Two patterns in the warning list below are the exceptions, and both of them are about load. Hip or groin pain on one side that you have to limp on needs the weight taken off that leg while you wait to be seen, because pregnancy can temporarily weaken the bone at the top of the thighbone and weakened bone there can crack. Pelvic or pubic pain that arrived in a single moment, with a crack, pop or tearing feeling over your pubic bone, needs you off it rather than walking it off. If either of those is your pain, follow that warning line instead of this paragraph.

Back with ordinary pelvic girdle pain, none of this is a matter of attitude or effort. The RCOG says pelvic girdle pain usually improves after birth while around 1 in 10 women have ongoing pain, and POGP advises getting help if your symptoms are not improving within a week or two or are affecting your sleep and daily activities. If pain is climbing week on week despite the changes here, the next step is an assessment, not a stricter list. The RCOG also names short-term aids, help with household tasks, workplace adjustments and, in severe cases, a short admission to the antenatal ward for physiotherapy and pain management, which is worth knowing exists.

One more thing belongs in that conversation, and it is the part women leave out. The RCOG says being in severe pain and not being able to move around easily can be extremely distressing, and asks you to talk to your midwife and doctor if you feel you are struggling. POGP's booklet gives the emotional effects of this pain a section of its own and asks you to request help with them. The NHS says to let your GP or midwife know if pelvic pain is causing you considerable distress, because you may need more treatment. So low mood, anxiety and feeling unable to cope are part of what gets looked after here rather than a separate problem to carry alone, and the warning list below says what not to wait on.

Sex, and other things nobody puts on a list

POGP lists intercourse among the activities that can hurt with pelvic girdle pain, and the RCOG does too. The practical advice from WA Health is that lying flat on your back can aggravate the pain, and that positions such as lying on your side with a pillow between your legs may be more comfortable. The same principle applies as everywhere else on this page: knees closer together, weight shared, and nothing held at the end of its range.

Housework is the other quiet one. WA Health singles out vacuuming, sweeping and mopping, and asks you to avoid twisting, leaning forward and having your legs far apart while you do them, which between them describe how most people vacuum. Push with both hands and move your feet instead of reaching, work in short spells, and hand over the jobs that cannot be done without a wide stance if there is anyone to hand them to.

Two small things make a surprising difference to how a day feels. Shoes first: the HSE suggests a running shoe or sneaker with a gentle arch support and a cushioned sole, which it calls a runner, and advises against slippers and bare feet, while the NHS and POGP both ask for flat, supportive shoes. Then standing still, which is harder than walking for many women with this pain. WA Health suggests resting one foot on a book or a low shelf and swapping feet about every ten minutes, keeping some weight through the balls of your feet with the knees soft rather than locked.

Leaking when you cough, sneeze or laugh often turns up alongside all of this, and it is worth raising at the same appointment rather than treating as separate. Signs of a weak pelvic floor sets out what belongs in that conversation, and the postnatal program is where this page's advice continues after the birth, since lifting and carrying a baby and the equipment that comes with it puts its own strain on your back and pelvis (POGP).

Related exercise programs

Warning signs

Get emergency help now

Emergency: anything that looks life threatening, at any stage of pregnancy. Call emergency services without stopping to work out which line below fits: 999 in the UK, 112 in the UK and anywhere in Europe, 911 in the United States and Canada, 000 in Australia, 111 in New Zealand. Say how many weeks pregnant you are, and say it again to each new person you speak to (NHS).
Emergency: heavy bleeding from your vagina, for example soaking a pad soon after you put it on, or any bleeding with severe pain in your tummy, pain in your shoulder, or feeling sick, faint or dizzy. Call emergency services straight away.
Emergency: pelvic or pubic pain that has suddenly left you unable to stand, walk or put weight on one or both legs. Call emergency services if you cannot stand or walk at all, or you cannot get to a hospital safely. Until help reaches you, stay where you are rather than trying to get yourself up: lie on your side with your knees together and a pillow between them, and do not stand on one leg or let your legs come apart.
Emergency: hip or groin pain on one side that suddenly becomes much worse, or a leg that will not take your weight at all. Go to an emergency department straight away, and say you are pregnant and that the top of the thighbone may be involved, because pregnancy can weaken the bone there and weakened bone can crack. Call emergency services if you cannot stand or walk at all, or cannot get there safely.
Emergency: a very high or a very low temperature, shivering you cannot control, breathing very fast or finding it hard to breathe, being confused or slurring your speech, skin, lips or a tongue that look blue, gray, pale or blotchy (on brown or black skin this can be easier to see on the palms of the hands or soles of the feet), or a rash that does not fade when you press it. Call emergency services, as this can be sepsis.
Emergency: you suddenly become short of breath, you get chest pain or pain in your upper back that may be worse when you breathe in, you cough up blood, your heart is beating very fast, or you faint. Call emergency services straight away, even if your leg looks normal. These can be signs of a blood clot in the lungs (pulmonary embolism).
Emergency: numbness, tingling or altered feeling around or under your genitals, between your inner thighs, or around your bottom (anus), for example it feels different when you wipe after using the toilet. Call emergency services or go to an emergency department straight away. This can be a sign of pressure on the bundle of nerves at the base of the spine (cauda equina syndrome), which needs emergency treatment.
Emergency: you find it hard to start peeing, cannot pee, cannot feel yourself peeing or cannot control when you pee, or you do not notice when you need to poo or cannot control when you poo, and this is not normal for you. The same applies to a new change in how your genitals feel during sex, or new trouble getting an erection or ejaculating. Call emergency services or go to an emergency department straight away. These can also be signs of cauda equina syndrome.
Emergency: sciatica in both legs, or pain, tingling, numbness or weakness in both legs. The same applies if you lose feeling in one leg. Call emergency services or go to an emergency department straight away.
Emergency: pain in your lower tummy or pelvis that is severe, is getting worse, or hurts when you move or touch the area, or that comes with feeling faint, dizzy or lightheaded, passing out, pain at the tip of your shoulder, trouble breathing, heavy bleeding from the vagina, or sudden confusion. Call emergency services or go to an emergency department straight away. Tell them if there is any chance you are pregnant.
Emergency: you have a lump in your groin and the pain in it is severe or came on suddenly, you cannot poo or pass wind at all, you are vomiting blood or your vomit looks like coffee grounds, or you have suddenly become confused. Call emergency services or go to an emergency department straight away, and do not try to push the lump back in yourself. A hernia that has become trapped can block the bowel or cut off the blood supply to whatever is caught in it (NHS).
Emergency: you have had cancer, now or in the past, and your back or neck pain feels like a tight band around your body, or comes with pain spreading down an arm or leg, weakness, numbness or pins and needles in your arms or legs, trouble walking, or trouble controlling your bladder or bowels. Call your cancer team's emergency number straight away, or go to an emergency department if you do not have one or cannot get through. This can be cancer pressing on the spinal cord (metastatic spinal cord compression), which needs treatment straight away.
Emergency: you have thoughts of ending your life or of harming yourself or your baby and feel you might act on them, you have already harmed yourself, or you do not feel you can keep yourself or your baby safe. Call emergency services or go to an emergency department straight away.

Get help now, day or night

Who to call for every line below that says to contact your midwife or maternity unit: call them straight away, day or night, on the number in your maternity notes. In the first 12 weeks, before your first midwife appointment, the NHS routes these calls to a GP surgery or an early pregnancy unit, and from 12 to 19 weeks to a midwife or an early pregnancy unit, so you do not need a maternity unit of your own yet to be seen. Outside the UK, call your obstetrician, or the maternity or labor and delivery unit where your birth is booked. If you cannot reach anyone and you are worried, call NHS 111 in the UK, and anywhere, go to your maternity unit or an emergency department rather than waiting at home (NHS).
Any bleeding or spotting from your vagina, even if it is light and you have no pain. Contact your midwife or maternity unit straight away.
Your waters break, or you have a gush or trickle of fluid from your vagina, at any stage of pregnancy. Contact your midwife or maternity unit straight away.
Before 37 weeks, you have regular tightenings or contractions, period-type pains, or backache that is not usual for you. Contact your midwife or maternity unit straight away, as this can be a sign of early (premature) labor.
New back pain in the second or third trimester (from 13 weeks), even if you think it is PGP or ordinary backache. Contact your midwife or maternity unit straight away, as it can be a sign of early labor. Once they have checked it, follow their advice about when to call again.
Your baby is moving less than usual, you cannot feel your baby moving anymore, or the usual pattern of movements has changed. Contact your midwife or maternity unit straight away, even in the middle of the night. Do not wait until the next day, and do not use a home heartbeat monitor to check.
A severe headache that does not go away with simple painkillers, problems with your vision such as blurring or flashing lights, pain just below your ribs, sudden swelling of your face, hands or feet, being sick (vomiting), heartburn that does not go away with heartburn medicines, or feeling very unwell. Contact your maternity unit straight away, as these can be signs of pre-eclampsia, which needs checking and treating quickly. The same applies to a headache after an epidural or spinal anesthetic that gets worse when you sit or stand up and eases when you lie down. Call emergency services if you have a fit (seizure), or a headache that came on suddenly and is very severe. Call emergency services too if you have a headache with a stiff neck and either a high temperature or bright light hurting your eyes, as this can be meningitis.
Tummy pain that does not go away after you have rested for 30 to 60 minutes, or that comes with lower back pain, vaginal discharge that is unusual for you, regular cramping or tightenings, pain when you pee, or needing to pee suddenly or more often than usual (NHS). The same applies to back or pelvic pain that comes on suddenly, is getting worse quickly or is much worse than your usual pain. Contact your maternity unit straight away. Call emergency services if the tummy pain is severe, any pain comes with bleeding from your vagina, or tummy pain comes with pain in your shoulder or feeling sick, faint or dizzy.
Pelvic or pubic pain that came on in a single moment, for example during the birth, a fall or a wide step, with a crack, pop or tearing feeling over your pubic bone. Contact your maternity unit straight away, and ask them to check the joint at the front of your pelvis. While you wait, keep off it rather than walking it off: lie on your side with your knees together and a pillow between them, get help to move if there is someone with you, and do not stand on one leg or let your legs come apart. If you cannot stand or walk at all, or you cannot get to a hospital safely, call emergency services. Separation of that joint (pubic symphysis diastasis) is uncommon, is not the same as the pelvic girdle pain this page is about, is confirmed on a scan rather than by how much it hurts, and is first treated with a pelvic support belt and side lying, so ask about a belt at that appointment (Stolarczyk 2021). Pain that has built up over days or weeks, even when it is severe, is the usual pattern of pelvic girdle pain.
Back pain with a high temperature (38C or above), feeling hotter than usual or shivery, pain or burning when you pee, pee that looks cloudy, pink, red or brown, or pain in one or both sides of your back just under the ribs. Contact your midwife, maternity unit or doctor straight away, as this can be a urine or kidney infection, which is usually treated easily once someone has seen you (NHS). Call emergency services instead if you have any of the signs of sepsis in the emergency warnings above.
A calf or thigh that is newly swollen or getting more swollen, warm, tender, red or darker than usual, has swollen veins that are sore to touch, or has a throbbing or cramping pain that does not fit your injury or condition, or that feels different from normal muscle soreness after exercise. This can be a sign of a blood clot (deep vein thrombosis), especially after surgery, an injury, time in a cast or boot, a long trip or a spell of being much less mobile than usual. Get medical advice the same day. If you are also short of breath or have chest pain, call emergency services. Pregnancy and the first 6 weeks after giving birth also make a clot more likely, so if you are pregnant or gave birth in the last 6 weeks, contact your maternity unit, midwife or GP straight away.
You fall, or your bump is knocked or hit, for example in a car accident, even if you feel fine. Contact your maternity unit straight away so you and your baby can be checked.
Lower tummy or pelvic pain and you are pregnant or think you might be. Contact your midwife or maternity unit straight away if you are pregnant, or get medical advice the same day if you might be. Pain low in the tummy early in pregnancy needs checking, because a pregnancy can grow outside the womb (ectopic pregnancy).
You are out of breath when you lie down, or breathlessness comes with dizziness. Contact your maternity unit straight away. If you are severely short of breath when you are resting, or so breathless that you are gasping or cannot get your words out, call emergency services. Feeling a little more out of breath as your baby grows is common, but this pattern needs checking.

Get help today

Same day: dizziness, lightheadedness or feeling faint while you are exercising, or the room seems to spin. Stop, and sit down or lie on your side until it passes. Contact your midwife or maternity unit the same day, and do not exercise again until you have been checked, as dizziness is one of the signs to stop exercising in pregnancy. If you faint, it does not settle within a few minutes of keeping still, or you cannot stand or walk steadily, call emergency services.
Same day: a leg or foot that is getting weaker, for example your foot drags, catches on the ground or slaps down when you walk (foot drop). Get medical advice the same day. If the weakness is getting worse by the hour, go to an emergency department.
Same day: a lump in your groin that becomes painful, hard or red, that you cannot push back in, or that comes with a bloated tummy, feeling or being sick, constipation or a high temperature. Get medical help the same day, in person rather than by phone, for example at urgent care or an emergency department, as these can mean a hernia has become trapped (NHS). Do not try to push the lump back in yourself.
Same day: new back pain and you have had cancer, now or in the past. Get medical advice the same day and mention your cancer history. If you are being treated for cancer now, contact your cancer team the same day.
Thoughts of suicide or of harming yourself or your baby, even if you do not plan to act on them. Get urgent help the same day from your GP, midwife or health visitor, or NHS 111 in the UK. In the UK, you can also talk to Samaritans on 116 123.

Book an appointment

Within a few days: hip or groin pain, usually on one side, that is worse when you put weight on that leg, that makes you limp or need a stick or crutch, or that has not eased with position changes and pacing. Ask your midwife or doctor for a review, and say the pain is in your hip rather than only your pelvis. While you wait, take the weight off that leg where you can: lean on a crutch, a stick, a shopping cart or a stroller, use the rail and one step at a time on stairs, sit down for jobs you would do standing on one leg, and do not push through pain you have to limp on. Pregnancy and the weeks after the birth can cause a temporary weakening of the bone at the top of the thighbone, which is uncommon, is often read as pelvic girdle pain for weeks, and shows up on an MRI scan, which is the test to ask about when hip pain has no other explanation (Morton 2024). If the pain suddenly becomes much worse, or that leg will not take your weight at all, do not wait for the review: go to an emergency department straight away, as the emergency warnings above say.
Within a few days: a new lump or swelling in your groin, especially one that gets bigger when you cough, sneeze or stand and smaller when you lie down. Tell your midwife or doctor, because a lump there needs examining rather than explaining, and an ultrasound scan is what separates swollen veins alongside the round ligament from a hernia (Yeo 2021). Do not try to push the lump back in yourself, and use the same day line above instead if the lump becomes painful, hard or red or you cannot push it back in.
Low mood, anxiety or stress that is affecting your day to day life, or pain that is causing you considerable distress. Tell your midwife or doctor and ask what support is available, because this is part of what gets treated rather than something to put up with (NHS; RCOG; POGP).

Common questions

What exercises should you avoid with pelvic girdle pain?

The ones that put you on one leg or take your legs wide apart, because the NHS and POGP both name those two positions among the movements that most often hurt with pelvic girdle pain. In practice that means leaving out single-leg standing, lunges, side leg lifts, clamshells, wide-legged stretches and the figure-four or piriformis stretch for now, and the pregnancy back and pelvic pain program leaves them out for that reason. Squeezing a ball or cushion between the knees also comes out, because the inner thigh muscles pull close to the sore joint at the front. Running and jumping go too: the HSE says not to run or do any high-impact exercise if you have pelvic girdle pain, and the WA Health physiotherapy guidance says to walk rather than run and step rather than jump. Lying flat on your back is a separate issue from the pelvis and is limited later in pregnancy for its own reasons, which the program explains. A physio may add some of these back once they have assessed you, which is a better route than testing them yourself.

Can you still exercise with pelvic girdle pain?

Yes, and the sources are united on it. The HSE says it is important to stay fit during pregnancy, that pregnancy pilates can help your posture and core stability, and that pregnancy yoga helps if the stances are adapted so your weight is spread evenly on both legs rather than on one. The WA Health guidance asks you to keep exercising to maintain strength in the tummy, buttock, thigh and pelvic floor muscles while swapping high-impact work for walking and stepping. What changes is the shape of the exercise rather than whether you do any. Water is the most useful swap when weight bearing hurts, because it supports your body weight and takes the load off the pelvic joints. The program is built to that pattern, with even weight on both feet and the knees fairly close together.

Should you avoid swimming with pelvic girdle pain?

Swimming itself is one of the better options. The stroke is the question, and the two national services we read put it differently. WA Health's physiotherapy guidance says plainly not to kick with breaststroke, which it calls a frog kick, and suggests a flutter or dolphin kick, walking forwards and backwards in the water, or exercising at the pool edge. The HSE does not name the breaststroke at all: the strokes it names as helpful are front crawl and gentle walking in the water, and it suggests doing one stroke per swim session to find any that sets your pain off, then doing whichever stroke is comfortable for you. So leave the breaststroke kick out and use a flutter kick, walk in the water, or work at the pool edge, which is what the main program says too. The reason is that this kick does exactly what the rest of the advice asks you to stop doing, which is moving your legs wide apart, repeatedly, under load. Testing the other strokes one per session, as the HSE suggests, is a reasonable way to find what suits you.

Does pelvic girdle pain get worse if you keep going?

Pain can certainly get worse across a day, and the readable guidance treats that as a reason to pace rather than a sign of damage. POGP advises against trying to get all your jobs done in one go and against pushing through activities that make the pain worse, and suggests spreading tasks out with rest between them. The NHS puts it as keeping active while avoiding the things that make the pain worse, and resting when you can. Nothing we could read says that walking or using the stairs injures the pelvic joints, and the RCOG is clear that pelvic girdle pain, however painful it is for you, will not harm your baby. Nor is getting through it simply a matter of attitude. The RCOG says pelvic girdle pain usually improves after birth, while around 1 in 10 women have ongoing pain, and if your pain is building week on week despite the changes on this page, that is information for your midwife, doctor or physio rather than a cue to try harder. One boundary on all of that: it applies to pelvic girdle pain. Hip or groin pain on one side that you have to limp on, and pelvic pain that came on in a single moment, are different problems, and the warning list gives each of those its own instruction.

What should you avoid with pelvic girdle pain at work?

The same pattern, applied to whatever your day actually involves. The RCOG names workplace adjustments among the things that help, alongside help with household tasks, so this is a conversation to have rather than something to absorb. Long static spells are the first thing to break up: the RCOG suggests changing position often and not sitting for more than 30 minutes at a time, and the NHS advises limiting long periods of sitting or standing. If you stand for a living, the WA Health guidance suggests resting one foot on a book or a low shelf and swapping feet about every ten minutes, keeping some weight through the balls of your feet with soft knees. If you sit, sit evenly on both buttocks rather than crossing your legs or tucking them underneath, and use a footstool and a chair with more upright support. POGP also advises changing position at work as part of pacing.

References

NHS. Pelvic pain in pregnancy. Page last reviewed 12 December 2022. https://www.nhs.uk/pregnancy/common-symptoms/pelvic-pain/
NHS. Back pain in pregnancy. Page last reviewed 10 January 2024. https://www.nhs.uk/pregnancy/common-symptoms/back-pain/
NHS. Premature labour and birth. Page last reviewed 10 January 2024. https://www.nhs.uk/pregnancy/labour-and-birth/premature-labour-and-birth/
NHS. Pregnancy symptoms you need to get help for. Page last reviewed 24 June 2026. https://www.nhs.uk/pregnancy/common-symptoms/pregnancy-symptoms-you-need-to-get-help-for/
NHS. Pre-eclampsia. Page last reviewed 23 March 2026. https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/pre-eclampsia/
NHS. Your baby's movements. Page last reviewed 8 July 2024. https://www.nhs.uk/pregnancy/keeping-well/your-babys-movements/
Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists (RCOG). Pelvic girdle pain and pregnancy. Patient information leaflet. June 2015. https://www.rcog.org.uk/for-the-public/browse-our-patient-information/pelvic-girdle-pain-and-pregnancy/
Pelvic, Obstetric and Gynaecological Physiotherapy (POGP). Pregnancy related pelvic girdle pain and low back pain during pregnancy and after having a baby. https://thepogp.co.uk/patient_information/womens_health/pregnancy_pgp_lbp.aspx
Pelvic, Obstetric and Gynaecological Physiotherapy (POGP). Pregnancy related pelvic girdle pain and other common conditions in pregnancy. Booklet. 23 March 2023. https://thepogp.co.uk/Resources/112/pregnancy_related_pelvic_girdle_pain_and_other_common_conditions_in_pregnancy/
Health Service Executive (HSE), Ireland. Looking after yourself: pelvic girdle pain in pregnancy. Last reviewed 18 March 2026. https://www2.hse.ie/conditions/pelvic-girdle-pain-pregnancy/looking-after-yourself/
Fiona Stanley Fremantle Hospitals Group, WA Health. Manage pelvic girdle pain. Last updated 16 December 2025. https://fsfhg.health.wa.gov.au/Our-services/Maternity/Pregnancy-care/Physiotherapy-during-pregnancy/Manage-pelvic-girdle-pain
Vleeming A, Albert HB, Ostgaard HC, Sturesson B, Stuge B. European guidelines for the diagnosis and treatment of pelvic girdle pain. European Spine Journal. 2008;17(6):794-819. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00586-008-0602-4
Stolarczyk A, Stepinski P, Sasinowski L, Czarnocki T, Debinski M, Maciag B. Peripartum pubic symphysis diastasis, practical guidelines. Journal of Clinical Medicine. 2021;10(11):2443. https://doi.org/10.3390/jcm10112443
Morton A, Savard-Heppel J. Transient osteoporosis of the hip in pregnancy. Obstetric Medicine. 2024;17(4):188-193. https://doi.org/10.1177/1753495X241236222
NHS. Ectopic pregnancy. Page last reviewed 23 August 2022. https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/ectopic-pregnancy/
NHS. Hernia. Page last reviewed 19 May 2026. https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/hernia/
NHS. Inguinal hernia repair. Page last reviewed 28 February 2025. https://www.nhs.uk/tests-and-treatments/inguinal-hernia-repair/
Yeo JHL, Tashi S. A rare but noteworthy diagnosis for lumps in the groin during pregnancy: round ligament varices. American Journal of Case Reports. 2021;22:e934313. https://doi.org/10.12659/AJCR.934313

Written and checked by the PocketPhysio editorial team. Last updated 2026-10-23.

This page is general education, not a diagnosis or a personal treatment plan. See a physiotherapist or doctor for advice about your own situation.