“Congratulations you are going to have a baby!” are the best words to hear from your doctor. As your baby starts growing so do you, the changes in your body can lead to unwanted changes in your feet.
Pregnancy is such an exciting time, and with the warm weather you will want to stay very active. Unfortunately with that increased activity you might get painful feet when you are pregnant .
What Is Causing Painful Feet When You Are Pregnant?
Flattened Feet: . A side effect of pregnancy is hormone related ligamentous laxity, this gives you extra stretch throughout your body. As you gain weight during your pregnancy, your body changes, and your center of balance moves forward. Your feet are able to keep up with these differences through slight changes, but the additional weight from your baby causes the arch of your foot to become closer to the ground while walking, if not completely flat against it. Since you don’t normally walk this way, your body isn’t lined up properly, making it easy to get painful feet when you are pregnant.
Foot Swelling: During your third trimester, the baby is putting pressure on blood vessels of your pelvis and legs. This slows down blood flow, and causes fluid to pool in your feet. Many women accumulate extra water during pregnancy, which adds more fluid to the already swollen feet. The swelling and pressure you are experiencing can cause painful feet when you are pregnant.
How To Treat Painful Feet When You Are Pregnant?
Swelling in the feet can be relieved by elevating the feet above the level of your heart as much as possible, wearing support panty hose for pregnant women, drinking lots of water, and walking for exercise.
Treatment for flat feet include, orthotics/shoe inserts and proper footwear. Orthotics and proper footwear not only help your feet ,but also helps with your bodies alignment. This could help with back pain caused from pregnancy, and prevent future foot problems that could occur from flat feet when you are pregnant.
It is always a good idea to set up an appointment with your local podiatrist. At Hollowbrook Foot Specialists in Wappingers Falls, NY Dr. Schlam is always here to help. If you are having pregnancy related foot pain give us a call at (845) 298 – 9074 or click here to schedule an appointment online.
By: David Schlam
