During pregnancy, your body changes to support the growing baby. Weight gain, hormonal changes, altered posture and fluid retention are natural consequences as your baby grows.
Not surprisingly, many of these issues affect your feet and legs, but help is at hand from your podiatrist. At Feet By Pody, we can support you through this exciting but challenging journey.
Weight Gain and Posture
Growing a human is heavy work – literally. The additional weight places extra pressure on your back, legs, knees and feet. You’ll unconsciously alter your posture and gait to compensate, but this leads to additional pressure on your legs and feet, and problems are sure to follow.
Fluid Retention and Swelling
Hormonal changes and weight gain make circulation sluggish, and this leads to fluid retention. What’s more, as the baby grows, they squash nearby blood vessels and organs. This impedes circulation and your legs and feet become swollen as a result.
In addition, the adrenal glands produce extra hormones to support the baby’s growth. This also increases body fluid and swelling and can lead to varicose veins.
Fortunately, the symptoms can be eased in several ways. Compression socks and gentle walking are ideal to encourage circulation. Don’t be tempted to drink less water either. Keeping hydrated helps with fluid retention by flushing out excess liquids.
The Role of Relaxing
The ovaries release this special hormone to relax the soft tissues of the body which is essential for the birthing process. However, it can affect ligaments in the feet as well.
Relaxed ligaments won’t support your arches properly and these will drop as a result. This makes your feet flatter and bigger, and prone to rolling inwards when you walk (overpronation). This places additional strain on your ankles, feet and lower legs as they struggle to support your foot, and indeed your whole body, correctly.
Plantar Fasciitis
The plantar fascia is a tough band of tissue running from the base of the toes to the heel bone. It’s vital for the correct support and function of the arch. A dropped arch places damaging pressure on the plantar fascia which leads to inflammation, pain and walking difficulties.
Your podiatrist can guide you through gentle stretches, massage and icing techniques to reduce inflammation and ease discomfort. They can also provide orthotics to correct overpronation – these will cushion the feet, support the ankles and correct postural issues.
Ingrown Toenails
As your baby grows, your feet get further and further away. You may be tempted to put off trimming your nails, but this isn’t wise. Longer nails plus swollen feet and toes can quickly lead to painful (and even infected) ingrown toenails, and this just adds to your problems.
There’s no need to battle with your feet. Regular visits to your podiatrist will keep your nails trimmed, tidy and infection-free.
Calluses, Corns and Bunions
Extra-large feet and wobbly ankles create friction and pressure in all the wrong places. This leads to painful sores and bumps, which just add to your discomfort.
Your podiatrist can keep these issues at bay. The right shoes (probably a size bigger than usual) plus orthotics ensure you have the best possible support and comfort and help prevent further problems from developing.
Support and Guidance at Feet By Pody
We can’t stop you from changing shape, but we can certainly make you a lot more comfortable. Regular check-ups with an experienced podiatrist, together with the right maintenance will help keep you as healthy and pain-free as possible.
We look forward to seeing you at one of our London foot clinics.