What to do if pregnant women have foot pain while sleeping

Pregnant women may experience some physical discomfort after becoming pregnant. Many people have seen pregnant women suffering from foot pain when sleeping in real life. If pregnant women feel uncomfortable when sleeping, it will not only affect the health of the pregnant women, but also affect the development of the fetus. In order to enable everyone to better protect the health of pregnant women, we need to understand how to deal with this phenomenon.

1. Edema and painful feet: As the weight and position of the fetus change, water in the pregnant woman's body tends to accumulate in the feet and ankles, causing edema and pain in the feet and ankles. The solution to edema is to keep your feet elevated as much as possible at all times, do leg stretching exercises frequently, wear wide and comfortable shoes, and do not cross your legs when sitting.

2. Arch pain: Arch pain during pregnancy is mostly caused by fatigue or overstretching of the arch. Overstretching of the arch is caused by excessive pressure on a ligament on the sole of the foot that maintains the arch (called "plantar fascia") during pregnancy. The best way to prevent arch pain is to stretch your arches every morning or before and after exercise, not walk barefoot, and wear low-heeled shoes with cushioned soles.

3. Foot cramps: This painful cramp is caused by the increase in blood volume and progesterone during pregnancy. Pregnant women can prevent cramps by rotating their ankles to improve blood flow and elevating their feet when sitting. If cramps persist, try walking around obstacles and doing daily exercises to stretch your calf muscles.

4. Ingrown toenails: Wearing tight shoes during pregnancy can cause ingrown toenails. The solution is to wear loose shoes during the last three months of pregnancy. If ingrown toenail has already occurred, do not go to some small private clinics for minor surgery. Repeated cutting of the nails can make ingrown toenails worse. The best way is to seek treatment from a professional foot and ankle surgeon.

5. It is common for women’s feet to become larger during pregnancy. This is because during pregnancy the hormone relaxin is released (a hormone that relaxes the pelvis when the baby is delivered), which causes the ligaments in the pregnant woman's feet to become looser, causing the feet to become wider and longer, often making the pregnant woman's feet half the size.

Through the above treatments, we have learned about the relevant methods to deal with foot pain in pregnant women when sleeping, which can also enable pregnant women to live a normal life. The characteristics of normal leg and foot swelling during pregnancy are "pitting edema" on both sides of the ankles, the dorsum of the feet and the front of the calves, that is, a depression appears where you press with your fingers. After resting for 6 to 8 hours, the swelling of the legs and feet disappears.