What a New Baby Reminded Me About the Importance of Mobility of the Pelvis

At 5:00 in the morning, I woke up to a series of missed calls and text messages. My niece was in labor. Why did I have my phone sound off???

I arrived at the hospital, watched the process for a while, and eventually I found myself standing beside her hospital bed, helping support her as she worked through the incredible process of bringing a new life into the world.

It was one of the most beautiful experiences I have ever witnessed.

The love between those two new parents was palpable. Her husband never left her side. They worked tirelessly together as she labored on and on, allowing her body to do the work. Her mother, mother-in-law, close friends, nurses, and family all worked together to create an atmosphere of encouragement and support.

As a bodyworker, however, I couldn't help but notice that I was watching the pelvis do exactly what it was designed to do. I was truly in awe of the human body and the design behind it, not to mention this tiny but mighty new mama.

Pregnancy Changes the Pelvis

Over the course of pregnancy, the growing baby places increasing demands on the mother's body.

The pelvis must constantly adapt to changing weight distribution, altered posture, and shifting forces throughout the spine, hips, and lower extremities.

As the baby grows, it is common to see the innominates (the pelvis bones) move into outflare, opening the anterior and superior aspects of the sacroiliac joints. Sometimes the stresses of life, old injuries, falls, motor vehicle accidents, or repetitive postural habits create restrictions that limit how well those tissues and joints can adapt.

In some cases, I find what osteopathic practitioners would describe as intraosseous or interosseous restrictions within the pelvic structures themselves. These patterns may have developed years before pregnancy and often do not simply disappear after delivery.

Case in point, sometimes the weight of the baby and what supports its growth creates a strain pattern in the innominates, causing the ilium to bend out to the sides, relative to the ischium and pubis. The bone becomes more rigid and less adaptable, and the SI joints follow suit. You can see this in postpartum moms who have lost their hourglass shape, and whose “tail doesn’t wag” when they walk.

Whether the innominates end up biased into outflare, or the innominates get a bend in them, once labor starts, if these bones and joints aren't adaptable, we could have some mischief.

Labor Requires a Different Kind of Movement

During labor, the pelvis must transition from supporting a growing baby to creating space for that baby to descend through the birth canal.

The same structures that spent months adapting to pregnancy to support the weight of the baby and the strain on the pelvic floor must now adapt in a different direction.

The sacrum needs freedom to move into flexion to allow the posterior aspect of the pelvic floor to have more space.

The pelvic floor must respond.

The sacroiliac joints must be able to accommodate changing forces.

The innominates now need to move into inflare, opening the inferior and posterior aspects of the SI joints, to make the iscial tuberosities move away from each other, thereby widening the pelvic floor.

The pubic symphysis must participate in the process.

The entire system must work together.

Watching my niece labor reminded me that birth is a dynamic biomechanical process that requires continuous adaptation.

As her body moved, we changed positions. As the baby's position changed, her body found new ways to create space.

It was fascinating to watch.

Why Bodywork Can Help

One of the reasons I encourage pregnant clients to receive bodywork is not simply for comfort, although comfort certainly matters.

Bodywork can help identify and address restrictions that may be limiting the body's ability to adapt.

That means improving mobility in the sacrum and the innominates.

It means working with the diaphragm, abdomen, hips, psoas, and other surrounding tissues that influence pelvic mechanics.

Every person is different.

The goal is not to force change but to help the body regain options. We call this building adaptability, which equals health.

Because adaptability is one of the body's greatest strengths.

A Lesson I'll Never Forget

One of the things that struck me most during the birth was the adaptability of a healthy young body.

Not every young mother has an easy labor, and not every older mother has a difficult one. Life experiences, injuries, health history, fitness, stress, and countless other factors all play a role.

But watching my niece reminded me that the body has an incredible capacity to adapt when it has the mobility and support it needs.

Later today, she told me she didn't think she could have done it without me.

Of course she could have—she proved throughout that day that she was one of the strongest women I know.

Still, I left the hospital feeling deeply grateful—grateful for family, grateful for the opportunity to help, and grateful for the years I have spent studying the body, because today I got to see those lessons come to life in one of the most meaningful ways imaginable.

A brand-new baby entered the world, and I was reminded once again that movement matters.

Movement is life.