At Wagga Podiatry Plus our podiatrists see a ton of biomechanically related injuries happening to women during and post-pregnancy. It’s even more common for new mums to note they’ve gone up a shoe size or have gotten a flatter and wider foot during/post pregnancy..
The reason this happens is no mystery. It’s related to the body's hormonal response to growing a baby and more specifically - preparing to get the baby out.
During pregnancy the body will produce more of the hormone relaxin, this makes the ligaments (the tight little seatbelts that hold bones together nice and tight) more stretchy. Stretchy ligaments are very necessary to evacuate a baby out of a fully grown human's pelvis.
The side effect of this increased stretchiness is it also makes all of the other ligaments more stretchy. In particular, it affects the tons of ligaments that help hold up the arch of our foot.
When the ligaments in the foot become more stretchy - the foot will be a little bit less resistant to the forces making the foot want to pronate (roll in) (+ extra weight and change in centre of pressure) This will cause the arch to elongate and flatten out more and will even cause the 1st and 5th metatarsals to move more laterally.
The obvious effect of this is it causes a flatter, wider foot (maybe even up a size) but it is also common to have more injuries affecting other areas of the foot and ankle secondary to this. Things like plantar fasciitis, tendinopathy and neuromas are all more common post-pregnancy and it is in a big part due to the way that the foot changes during pregnancy.
If this is something that is effecting you, your best bet is to have it properly assessed by your local Podiatrist.
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