Add sciatica to the list of common aches, pains and discomforts of pregnancy. As your center of gravity shifts and ligaments loosen in preparation for labor, you may experience the shooting lower back and leg pain of a pinched or stressed sciatic nerve. What a joy!
What Is Sciatica in Pregnancy?
Lana Barhum has been a freelance medical writer for over 14 years. She shares advice on living well with chronic disease.
Published on June 28, 2021
Anita Sadaty, MD, is a board-certified obstetrician-gynecologist at North Shore University Hospital and founder of Redefining Health Medical.
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Back pain during pregnancy is quite common and often due to carrying extra weight on the front of your body. But while it is normal to experience some pain in the middle of the back or butt, some people will struggle with a painful condition called sciatica.
Sciatica causes sharp, shooting pain that starts in the lower back or buttocks and radiates down the backs of the legs. This happens because the sciatic nerve—the largest nerve in the body—becomes compressed or irritated.
The frequency of sciatica will increase as your pregnancy progresses. Sciatica is more common in the third trimester. Fortunately, sciatica is a temporary condition that often resolves after childbirth.
Learn more about sciatica, including its signs and symptoms, causes, treatment, and when to reach out to your doctor.
Jose Luis Pelaez Inc / Digital Vision / Getty Images
Symptoms
Back pain in pregnancy is a common complaint, and it can harm your quality of life. Sciatica, on the other hand, is less frequent, affecting 1% of people in pregnancy.
On each side of your body, your sciatic nerve starts in your lumbar spine (lower spine), runs into your buttocks, and extends into the back of your thigh, ending just above the back of your knee. Your sciatic nerve then extends into other nerves, which continue into your leg, foot, and toes.
Pain associated with sciatica will be dull, deep, or shooting. It can range from mild to severe. But the pain is manageable and can resolve with treatment.
- Pain that travels down the leg
- Numbness or weakness that is felt in the lower back, buttocks, leg, or foot
- Pain that gets worse with movement or reduced movement (e.g., sitting or lying down for a long period)
- A “pins and needles” feeling in the legs, feet, or toes
- Difficulty with walking, standing, or sitting for long periods
Causes
Sciatic nerve pain is generally caused by lumbar spine problems, such as a bulging or herniated disk. It can also be caused by a bone condition that affects the spine, such as spinal stenosis, spondylolisthesis, or osteoarthritis. These conditions can put pressure on the sciatic nerve, which leads to symptoms.
During pregnancy, sciatica symptoms, unrelated to another condition, can be caused by muscle tension and unstable joints. This is the effect of a hormone called relaxin that is increased during pregnancy.
Relaxin readies the pelvis for childbirth by relaxing ligaments and widening the hips. As the pregnant belly grows and the ligaments start to loosen up, the center of gravity shifts, causing the sciatic nerve to become irritated or pinched.
The baby’s weight can also add to the pressures already affecting the pelvis and hip joints. In some cases, the baby’s position within the uterus can place pressure on the sciatic nerve.
Treatment
Treatment for sciatica during pregnancy includes a variety of self-care therapies. This might include massage, stretching, gentle exercise, hot and cold therapy, maternity support belts, and practicing good posture. Medicinal therapies are rarely considered during pregnancy.
Massage
Prenatal massage might help ease pain, inflammation, and discomfort in the back and other body areas affected by the sciatic nerve. When looking for a masseuse, it is best to find someone who specializes or has experience in pregnancy massage. Massage strokes should be light, and the masseuse should stop if there is pain or significant pressure.
Stretching
Gentle stretching during pregnancy can strengthen your back and abdominal muscles to reduce back pain and stiffness. Light stretching can also loosen up tight muscles and relieve sciatic nerve pain.
The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists recommends avoiding exercises that require you to stand still or lie flat on your back. Lying on your back puts pressure on the large vein in the uterus that returns blood to the heart. Standing motionless can increase blood to your legs and feet. Both positions can also cause decreased blood pressure.
Safe Exercises
Brisk walking, using a stationary bike, yoga, and swimming are all safe ways to exercise when you are pregnant. Swimming, in particular, can help support the weight of your pregnant belly and reduce pressure on joints and muscles.
You should always talk to your doctor to make sure specific exercises are safe for you during pregnancy.
Hot and Cold Therapy
Cold therapy can reduce pain and swelling. Apply an ice pack or a bag of frozen vegetables wrapped in a towel to the painful area. Apply for 20 minutes, several times daily.
You can switch to a heating pad after using cold therapy for a few days. Apply for 20 minutes at a time.
You can switch between hot and cold, depending on what improves symptoms. Do not apply a cold pack or heating pad to your belly or to your back for longer than 20 minutes at a time.
Maternity Support Garments
Some research suggests that wearing maternity support garments (i.e., a pelvic girdle) can help to ease sciatic nerve pain. These support garments work because they distribute pregnancy weight evenly and support posture.
A 2019 systematic review looked at studies supporting the use of maternity support garments to relieve lower back and pelvic girdle pain. The review determined that the use of the garments could help relieve pain, enhance balance, reduce falls, and improve function and mobility during pregnancy. The types of support garments studied were those that are commercially available.
Practicing Good Posture
Make it a habit to maintain good posture when sitting, especially when you are working at a computer. Try not to slump or slouch. Placing a support pillow behind your back can help you to sit more comfortably and reduce back pain and pressure. It is also helpful to get up and move around every half hour to one hour.
Medical Treatment
Doctors can recommend more advanced options for treating sciatica, such as steroid injections and nerve blocks, but these are considered unsafe options during pregnancy. If sciatica doesn’t resolve after your baby is born, you should talk to your doctor about medicinal treatment approaches.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) cautions against using nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) like ibuprofen during pregnancy because NSAIDs might be related to an increase in birth defects.
If you find that natural therapies are not helping manage sciatica pain and your quality of life is affected, talk to your doctor about whether acetaminophen or another pain reliever is an option for you during pregnancy.
Prevention
It is not always possible to prevent sciatica, especially during pregnancy. Maintaining a healthy weight and not sitting for long periods can help.
You can protect your back by regularly exercising and stretching. Also, aim to avoid heavy and incorrect lifting during pregnancy.
When to Call Your Doctor
Mild sciatica will go away with time and resolves with childbirth. However, you should call your doctor when self-care and home remedy measures fail to help symptoms or if the pain gets worse, becomes severe, or lasts more than a week.
Get immediate medical help for sudden severe pain in your low back or leg, accompanied by muscle weakness of the leg, or if you have problems controlling your bowels or bladder. These might be signs of a condition called cauda equina syndrome, which is a medical emergency and requires surgical intervention.
Summary
Sciatica during pregnancy can be painful and uncomfortable. It is caused by pressure on the sciatic nerve. Stretching can help improve pain, decrease muscle tension, and improve hip, leg, and back movement. Sciatica pain worsens with sitting or standing for long periods, so it is wise to switch positions and not sit for long periods.
Verywell Health uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read our editorial process to learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.
- Cleveland Clinic. How to handle sciatica during your pregnancy.
- Katonis P, Kampouroglou A, Aggelopoulos A, et al. Pregnancy-related low back pain. Hippokratia. 2011;15(3):205-210.
- Cleveland Clinic. Sciatica.
- American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists. Exercise during pregnancy.
- American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists. Back pain during pregnancy.
- Quintero Rodriguez C, Troynikov O. The effect of maternity support garments on alleviation of pains and discomforts during pregnancy: A systematic review. J Pregnancy. 2019;2019:2163790. doi:10.1155/2019/2163790
- Sutter Health. Pregnancy and posture.
- Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Use of pain medicine during early pregnancy may be related to birth defects.
- Park DK. American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons. Cauda equina syndrome.
By Lana Barhum
Lana Barhum has been a freelance medical writer since 2009. She shares advice on living well with chronic disease.
How to Handle Sciatica During Your Pregnancy
Add sciatica to the list of common aches, pains and discomforts of pregnancy. As your center of gravity shifts and ligaments loosen in preparation for labor, you may experience the shooting lower back and leg pain of a pinched or stressed sciatic nerve. What a joy!
Cleveland Clinic is a non-profit academic medical center. Advertising on our site helps support our mission. We do not endorse non-Cleveland Clinic products or services. Policy
A burning, radiating pain
Sciatica is a condition that feels like a shooting pain down your lower back and legs. It’s caused by a pinched or inflamed sciatic nerve, which runs the length of your lower back, down the leg and into your toes. The pain can range from mild to severe, but it often goes away with treatment. (And don’t worry, it usually goes away after pregnancy too!)
Most women experience some sort of back pain during their pregnancy (but we know that doesn’t make it any less frustrating right now).
It’s very common in pregnancy and often develops in the third trimester, but it can really occur anytime throughout the pregnancy, says ob/gyn Rebecca Starck, MD.
Pain grows as pregnancy advances
During pregnancy, the hormone relaxin increases, which helps prepare the pelvis for childbirth by relaxing the ligaments, says Dr. Starck. As ligaments loosen and the body’s center of gravity shifts, the sciatic nerve can shift and get pinched, which results in a shooting pain sensation down the buttocks and back of the legs.
Your baby’s weight can also put extra pressure on your sciatic nerve. And with the addition of new weight on already tense muscles and unstable joints, it can really cause some discomfort. Occasionally, the position of your baby might also add pressure to the nerve.
But take heart, although sciatica pain can be very uncomfortable for mom, it’s not harmful to the baby.
“As a result of the weight gain, there can be a lot more aches and pains. And sometimes in a second pregnancy, there are even earlier and more exaggerated symptoms than before,” Dr. Starck says.
Sciatic nerve pain in pregnancy usually comes and goes, but it can also be constant.
Remedies for relief
It’s important to listen to your body and discontinue any activities that agitate the sciatic nerve. Remember to talk to your doctor before you try any new treatments for sciatica. Discomfort during pregnancy is normal, but severe pain is not.
Dr. Starck suggests several approaches to ease the discomfort of sciatica during pregnancy:
- Take warm showers.
- Use a heating pad.
- Practice yoga.
- Try massage therapy.
- See a chiropractor.
- Take medicine for pain relief. Dr. Starck recommends Tylenol® to help relieve the pain and soreness.
- Go to physical therapy. Get an evaluation and learn stretches and strength exercises to help ease pain.
“Physical therapy can do a lot to relieve all sorts of pain during pregnancy,” says Dr. Starck. “The good news is that sciatica almost always goes away after pregnancy, so try not to stress to much about it now.”
And when it comes to sleeping during pregnancy with sciatica pain, Dr. Starck recommends using a full body pillow to support the pelvis and the lower extremities.
Cleveland Clinic is a non-profit academic medical center. Advertising on our site helps support our mission. We do not endorse non-Cleveland Clinic products or services. Policy
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