Pregnant and Knee Paint

RC,
I experienced the same thing! My knees, hips, elbows, lower back (it was the joints, not muscular), and ankles were very sore for a few months during this pregnancy. I am currently pregnant with #2 as well. My research told me that because my pregnancies are so close together, the ligaments and tendons have not completely healed from the first. I found that it takes 2 years after a pregnancy for your ligaments and tendons to return to normal. My pain lasted for a couple of months and was pretty severe. I massaged my joints and soaked in a warm bath. It helped a little. I hope that your joint pain goes away as mine did!

You have the exact same symptoms I had after my first baby. I ended up going to a rheumatologist after my ob/gyn recommended it. He told me I had arthritis. I freaked out, but really that just means swollen joints. That was when I was 28. I am now 51 and have no symptoms. Pregnancy can really whack out our bodies for a while. Apparently I had juvenile arthritis (some swelling behind my knee) which was dormant. The hormones of pregnancy exacerbated it.

Initially I was prescribed an anti-inflammmatory.
I take lots of fish oil now and exercise regularly.
You do not sound like a huge complainer-it can be REALLY uncomfortable and restrict your movement. The swelling and the heat in your knees is inflammation.

This may not be what you have, but check into it. Good Luck and Congratulations!
D.

It could be due to your center of balance changing... but if it were me I'd run it by my doc to make sure it wasn't some sort of wierd autoimmune thing triggered by pregnancy.

I know ligaments loosen during pregnancy, but I don't think it happens as early as 10 weeks. And I would want my doc to rule out stuff like rheumatoid arthritis.

Yea! I've had this too, and never met another mom with this problem. My youngest is 17 months now and I still have some problems with it..It's mainly my left one and guess what, my car is a standard..Every time I clutch it pops. But anyway, I would take your docs advice. When I was 5 months I bought some Nike's (bout a half size too big) and bought some gel inserts. They worked wonders! Of course, they didn't solve the entire problem, but it def took the swelling down. I know it's hard to stay off your feet with a boy (I had one when pregnant too) but it's worth it. Try to get his nap in early but keep it short and get in a couple naps a day. I did a lot of coloring with my boy and let him run around the couch in a circle when he got restless. lol. Good luck hon. Second pregnancies are usually harder than the first but you can do it if I did!

Try taking a Fish oil supplement that also has Flax and Borage oil in it. They come in capsule form so you don't even have to taste it. Also, you could try icing your knees in the evening. You don't want to go into tomorrow with today's swelling, ever. That just makes it worse and since you're pregnant, you can't really take things like ibuprofen or Alieve to keep the swelling down so ice is one of your best bets and if you can get off your feet sometime in the evening before bed, I'd suggest elevating your feet and putting ice packs (or bags of frozen veggies works nicely) on your knees for a while. You may also wish to try a patella band (you can get one at Academy) to help support your knee. And you may want to look up some exercises and stretches to help strengthen and balance your thigh muscles. Prenatal yoga would be a great way to address that. You could also try exercising in a pool, which will feel good to you during the summer months for sure. And please be sure you're drinking lots of fluids to help allay swelling and make sure your body is functioning properly.

Did your knees hurt/grind/creak before you were pregnant? Mine did (family history of creaky knees + a love of martial arts) and after several visits to Austin Sports Medicine, I was doing special stretches and exercises several times a week (part of my treatment plan. the Drs there said a lot of women end up having knee, back and hip problems b/c often their thigh and hip muscles are tight, imbalanced and/or weak) and taking Glucosamine-Chondroitin (Osteo-BiFlex) every day to keep that in check. Then when I became pregnant, I wasn't allowed to take glucosamine (there's not enough research to know its completely safe for a developing baby)...I didn't want crazy knee problems so my Dr. suggested I take fish oil while I was pregnant. It helped me greatly and now that my little one has arrived, I continue to use it. My knees still creaked on the stairs in my pregnancy, but they didn't hurt all the time and weren't crazy swollen until the very very end of my pregnancy when everything was swollen (my hands were often numb i was so swollen). i hope this helps you!

When you are pregnant your body begins to release relaxin which is a hormone that causes your joints to become more flexible. This is the reason the pelvis can open up wide enough to accomodate a baby. Your knee has joints and these also become relaxed which is why you are having knee pain. Not much you can do about it, except take it easy, which is easier said than done. This is a normal part of pregnancy.

Lisa

You might try a chiropractor. I know mine helps with my knee pain.......I wasn't seeing a chiro when I was pregnant with my second and had the knee pain....so don't know if it would have made a difference then.. but it does now.

J.

I would encourage you to bring this up to your doc again, it may be nothing or it may be hormones triggering a more serious condition either way they could do simple blood tests to rule out some of the autoimmune diseases that can cause symptoms like you are describing.

I had something similar. I had "trigger finger" during my first pregnancy. It started with my middle finger on my right hand being bent and unable to straighten. Then a few days later, my ring finger. Then it moved to the same two fingers on the left hand. After 2 weeks, I spent most of the day walking around making the Texas Longhorn Hook em Horns sign (which didn't go over well in our Aggie family!). My fingers actually hurt. They were achy and WOULD NOT straighten at all. I also had a problem in my elbows. If I slept with my arms curled under my head/face they would be stuck like that the next morning.. It would take several minutes to get them moving at all. The dr said it was ligaments tightening and that it should pass once the baby came. It did. I didn't have that problem at all with the 2nd baby, but occassionally my elbow does stiffen up when I wake up. But not nearly as bad as when I was pregnant. bring it up again to your dr. mine sent me to a neurologist just to be sure and the neurologist checked it out and explained it.. good luck!

Hi R.C.,

I am a mom and personal trainer. Your knee pain is probably associated with the weight gain and is quite common. I would do 30 minutes of walking each day if you can. Do you have access to a pool? Water exercise is great for that and low impact as well. Let me know if you have anymore questions. My e-mail is ____@____.com.

totally agree with the fish oil but in addition to try Garlic it's an anti inflammatory along with a few other vitamins which is good for the baby any way email me if you would like to know more ____@____.com

good luck

You sound too young, but it could be osteoarthritis. If so, you need to strenghthen the muscles above your knees. The more you favor the knees, the more your pain develops. There are several key exercises: Lie on your back and bend one knee and lift the other and hold. Do that about ten times on each side--if both knees are troubling you. Also try putting a pad under your knee and then press down as hard as you can, hold, and repeat 10 or so times with each leg. Constantly keep in mind that the upper leg muscle has to be strong to support your knee. Another is to use a stretch band and put on a solid leg of furniture and then lift your leg out sideways and hold and then slowly bring it back. Repeat. Finally, put your foot on a stair or some sort of elevation and press down using the muscle in your upper leg, stretching your leg. You have to get those upper muscles strong again and that will give you ultimate relief in the knees. Good luck. P.S. I learned I have no cartilege left and the two knee bones are rubbing together. The exercises hurt, but I'm decidedly better. I was favoring my bad knee so much that the muscle lost strength which doubled my trouble. You should get an x-ray and learn where you stand exactly.

As a mom, fitness instructor and yoga teacher, it is my guess that you have a muscle imbalance going on. When our quads and hamstrings are out of sync or something in the hip, low back or ankle is unbalanced we can have pain in the knee.

You changed the shoes already...and as long as they are good, supportive shoes, that is a "step" in the right direction.

Make sure you are drinking a lot of water! Our joints grind sometimes if we don't have fully hydrated joint capsules. If you haven't given up the sodas yet---NOW is the time!

You may want to ask for a referral to a physical therapist. Someone who can evaluate your leg, hip, low back strength and give you appropriate exercises to strengthen. If you strengthen what is weak, and it is the cause of your pain, you will feel better and you and the baby will be much healthier!

Your knee pain isn't in your head, but it IS a pregnancy thing. Your ligaments and joints get looser due to the hormones in your system, so it's easier to twist an ankle or wrench a knee when you're pregnant. I was achy all over in my joints when I was pregnant, and the doctor said this is "normal." Normal is good I guess, but still doesn't help your pain! Maybe ask the OB if you can take something for it, or eat something like bananas, which are full of potassium. That's supposed to help body aches and cramping. Good luck!

Have you thought about working with a nutritionist or a chinese medicine doctor? I worked with both and massively altered my diet...though in my case it was allergies that were the issue...and had no swelling and only experienced joint pain at the very end when all the extra weight is the real issue. Good Luck!