29 year-old Julie has been pregnant for 24 weeks. For over a week she has been having a bad pain in her left groin and it radiates to her left thigh. The pain makes her limp and the most painful time is when she goes downstairs. Her doctor calls this "pregnancy-related pelvic girdle pain "(PPGP).
PPGP is a collection of uncomfortable symptoms caused by a misalignment or stiffness of the pelvic joints at either the back or front of the pelvis. The symptoms can include pain over the pubic bone at the front in the centre, pain across one or both sides of your lower back, or pain in the area between the vagina and anus (perineum).
It’s estimated that PPGP affects up to one in five pregnant women to some degree. It’s not known exactly why pelvic pain affects some women, but it’s thought to be linked to a number of issues, including previous damage to the pelvis, pelvic joints moving unevenly, and the weight or position of the baby.
For Julie's pain, I used four acupuncture points - one in her left hip, three in her left leg. She felt a relief right after the first session. The second and third sessions weren't as good as the first one so I added moxabustion on the point in her hip, then she felt an improvement again. After five sessions of acupuncture, Julie could hardly feel the pain. To make sure she was pain-free, we had one more session. Julie said she would come back for acupuncture if the pain started again.
