How To Stay Comfortable On Your Feet Through Pregnancy

Posted 2 Oct '22

Being pregnant is an incredibly exciting time - and one filled with continuous change. While the baby is rapidly growing and developing, the expecting mother is too - her centre of gravity is shifting forwards which throws off the natural balance she has known all her life, hormones are causing her ligaments to loosen and soften, her blood volume can double, her weight increases on average by between 12-16kgs - and through these and many more changes, it’s her feet that are responsible for supporting her and continuing to take her wherever she wants to go.  

It’s no surprise then that foot pain and discomfort is a common occurrence in pregnancy - and one that can significantly interfere with an expecting mother’s ability to work, perform regular daily tasks and limit healthy exercise levels that are recommended in pregnancy. All of this can ultimately affect her mental and emotional well-being, at a time when emotions are already heightened and discomfort can take shape in various other common forms, like pregnancy back pain. 

If you’re experiencing foot pain or discomfort, here are the top five ways to help stay comfortable on your feet throughout your pregnancy, as recommended by our Brisbane podiatrists.

1. Choose Shoes For Your ‘Pregnancy’ Foot Size

Pregnancy results in many women gaining between half a shoe size and a whole shoe size in the length of their feet, while they feet grow wider, too. The feet don’t actually grow, but change due to a hormone called relaxin that is released to loosen the ligaments and tissues around your pelvis to help prepare you for childbirth. While it does a great job of this, it also acts on other ligaments in the body, including the feet. Given the weight our feet have to support every day, the pressure paired with stretchier ligaments means the feet can flatten, making them appear longer and wider.

When we see pregnant women with foot pain, we often notice that their shoes are no longer suitable for their feet in pregnancy - both in their size, and in the greater level of support that the feet now need to stay comfortable and moving well. Additionally, swelling in the feet and ankles is another common occurrence in pregnancy, so shoes may also now feel too tight. To help, we recommend:

• Check your feet against your shoe size at the start of the second and third trimesters, and assess their current comfort. It’s okay if a shoe that was previously comfortable no longer fits the bill - just set it aside to try again after you have your baby.
  
• Adjust your lacing technique if needed - sometimes the size may still work for you, but you may need to adjust your lacing technique, particularly if it was tight and used the very top eyelets, to give your feet some breathing room. This may come in especially handy if you have some foot or ankle swelling.
  
• Wear shoes with in-built support as much as possible. While this won’t have the same effect as custom foot orthotics, it’ll be better for your feet than wearing flat, unsupportive flats or thongs.
  

2. Wear Medical Grade Compression Socks

During pregnancy, most women’s blood volume increases by an average of 50% - but for some their blood volume may even double. That’s a lot of extra blood circulating through your arteries - and a massive responsibility on the veins in your legs to work overtime to return the blood back up against gravity, to the heart. Paired with the growing uterus putting pressure on the surrounding vessels, and a common result is swelling in the feet, ankles and lower legs.

While elevating your feet, avoiding sitting and standing for prolonged periods, and maintaining good hydration can help you start to manage swelling, a much more effective and constant way to help manage and prevent swelling is to wear medical-grade compression socks. These are not the standard compression gear that you may wear during social sports or to help limit the motion in a joint, but medical devices that have a mmHg rating (e.g. 15-20mmHg) and must be measured according to your calf size to help find the best fit. 

3. Go For A Daily Walk

Walking isn’t just good for our physical health in general, but our feet too by promoting circulation and engaging the muscles and tissues in the feet to help support their flexibility and strength. Regular gentle exercise also helps support healthy weight gain (as opposed to excess weight gain), while also being shown in studies to be associated with a lower risk of postpartum weight retention, thereby supporting our feet both during and after pregnancy. Walking has plenty of other benefits too, including helping lower the risk of gestational diabetes by 20% and lowering the risk of pre-eclampsia by 33%. 

In terms of how much walking is required to reap these benefits, start with half an hour per day, and increase it depending on what feels comfortable and achievable for your body. Ideally, you want to start your regular walking as early possible (from early to mid-pregnancy) and continue into your third trimester depending on what is safe and comfortable for you.

4. Wear Your Orthotics Inside And Outside Of The House

When you’re wearing your orthotics, they give your feet the best support, control and comfort. To optimise your comfort throughout the day - and throughout your pregnancy, we recommend dedicating a pair of ‘inside shoes’ that host your orthotics inside the house, as well as wearing them outside the house. This means your orthotics can keep working to support your balance and stability (which is important given the shift in your centre of gravity), help prevent tired achy legs, support weak ankles that may have been affected by the loosening relaxin hormone, give you arch support, maximise your comfort, and work in the other ways that were custom-prescribed by your podiatrist following a comprehensive assessment of your feet and ankles.

If you’ve never had foot orthoses before, they are a custom prescription device, created uniquely much like how custom glasses are prescribed for your eyes. Your podiatrist will perform a 3D foot scan to capture your feet perfectly, and then take a series of measurements, including a video gait analysis, pressure mapping, strength and flexibility testing, and foot posture testing. The results of these tests, paired with getting to know you, inform us on the best features for your orthotics to maximise your comfort and reduce your risk of foot pain throughout your pregnancy.

5. See Your Podiatrist

While there are many things we can do to help reduce our risk of a range of pains and problems, if you’re experiencing foot pain in pregnancy, or you have foot concerns that you want practical solutions for based on your unique circumstances, we highly recommend booking in with one of our Brisbane podiatrists. We see women throughout their pregnancy for care including:

• Treating foot and leg pain
  
• Improving daily comfort on the feet
  
• Measurement and fitting for medical grade compression garments. If there are any concerns about wearing compression garments, we can add wraps to the legs first to make your transition easier, especially if you may get more swelling than normal
• Helping women stay active and mobile throughout their pregnancy
  
• Helping improve balance, stability and confidence on the feet
  
• Safely and effectively managing the toenails and skin problems (like corns, calluses and ingrown nails)
  
• Cosmetic nail restoration and antifungal treatment for nails that have developed a fungal infection during pregnancy
  

We understand the challenges faced during pregnancy and are here to help. 
Book your appointment with our podiatry team online here or call us on (07) 3356 3579.