Pregnancy Foot Pain Nearly Broke Me: KURU Apogee Saved the Day

I can handle childbirth.

I have given birth seven times completely unmedicated, so when it comes to labor and delivery, I’m not exactly intimidated. Give me the contractions. Give me the pushing. Give me the whole “there is an actual human being coming out of me” situation.

Walk in the park.

Pregnancy, on the other hand? I absolutely hate being pregnant.

And after my last pregnancy, I genuinely questioned whether I would ever want to go through that again. Not because of labor. Not because of delivery. The pain was so unbelievably debilitating that, toward the end, I could barely function.

And I know I’m not the only one.

Nobody Warns You How Bad Pregnancy Foot Pain Can Get

Foot pain is one of those pregnancy symptoms that seems to get lumped into the “well, you’re pregnant” category. Your feet hurt? You’re pregnant. Your ankles are swollen? You’re pregnant. Your hips hurt? You’re pregnant.

Okay, but what happens when you can barely walk across the room let alone get out of bed in the morning?

According to a recent KURU Footwear survey of 500 expectant mothers, 74% of pregnant women experience foot pain, yet more than half, 55%, have not sought treatment from a medical professional.

That statistic honestly doesn’t surprise me.

Pregnant women are expected to be uncomfortable. We joke about swollen feet, waddling around, needing to sit down every five minutes, and not being able to see our own toes anymore. But there is a huge difference between normal pregnancy discomfort and pain that makes everyday life incredibly difficult.

The KURU survey found that 74% of women said their foot pain made it difficult to walk. Nearly half said it made exercising difficult, while 38% said it affected their ability to work and sleep.

And two thirds of the women surveyed said their foot pain started during the second trimester.

So yes, apparently this is common.

My Last Pregnancy Was a Whole Different Level of Pain

My last pregnancy was different from my previous pregnancies in a pretty major way.

I was carrying more than 60 extra pounds compared to my usual weight. My previous pregnancy ended in a stillbirth and I was unable to lose the weight I gained from that pregnancy before TTC and finally getting pregnant with our rainbow baby. By the time I was 9 months pregnant with that rainbow baby, I weighed 60+ more pounds than my usual non-pregnant self.

That put an enormous amount of additional stress on my body, especially my feet, hips, knees, and lower body. By the end of my pregnancy, I was struggling just to walk to the bathroom.

And when I say struggling, I don’t mean, “My feet are a little sore after a long day.”

I mean debilitating pain. Crying. Grabbing the walls while trying to take each step.

I developed plantar fasciitis. I had a Baker’s cyst behind my right knee. My hips hurt constantly. And eventually, I had microfractures in the bones of both feet from carrying so much additional weight.

There were days when walking around the house felt like an actual accomplishment.

You know how pregnancy is supposed to be this beautiful season where you’re glowing and preparing for your sweet little baby?

It was not a beautiful season. Not even a little. Besides the debilitating fear that I was going to lose my child after my last baby was stillborn with no answers as to why, I was also hobbling around caring for my other 5 children, wondering how on earth I was going to make it through the day.

And Unfortunately, Giving Birth Didn’t Make It Go Away

I wish I could tell you that the second my baby was born, I magically felt like myself again.

Nope.

Because I had gained so much more weight than usual during that pregnancy, the foot pain didn’t simply disappear after delivery.

It continued for more than a year.

More than a year of dealing with horrible foot pain, plantar fasciitis, hip pain, knee problems, and the physical aftermath of carrying a pregnancy while significantly heavier than my normal weight.

For me, losing the weight was ultimately the only thing that truly changed the situation, but because I was still in so much pain, that took an incredibly long time since walking was almost impossible and exercising was horribly painful.

Everyone kept saying, “just get your 10k steps daily and you’ll start losing weight!” but if you can’t even walk to the bathroom because you’re in so much pain, that kind of advice makes you furious.

KURU Sneakers Were What Made Walking Possible

During that time, my KURU sneakers became something I genuinely depended on.

I’m not exaggerating when I say that they made walking possible for me.

KURU shoes are designed around the heel and provide support that helped take some of the pressure off my feet when standing and walking was almost impossible for me.

When your feet hurt that badly, footwear stops being about fashion and becomes survival gear.

I could put on my KURUs and actually walk around the house without feeling like every step was punishment.

See, when you have 6 kids, you can’t always spend the day with your feet elevated and an ice pack strapped to your leg.

Someone still needs snacks.

Someone can’t find their underwear.

Someone is yelling to get wiped from the bathroom.

Someone needs to help finding their other sneaker.

Someone has lost the thing they were literally holding thirty seconds ago.

You know. Mom life.

Pregnancy Foot Pain Deserves More Attention

The KURU survey found that swelling and inflammation were the most commonly reported types of pregnancy foot pain at 65%, followed by cramping at 58% and throbbing at 45%.

Half of the women surveyed described their pain as moderate, while 33% described it as mild.

But here’s the part that really sticks with me: 74% said their foot pain made it difficult to walk.

Guys. That’s not nothing.

Pregnancy already asks a tremendous amount from your body. If something is making it difficult to walk, sleep, exercise, work, or take care of yourself and your family, I don’t think we should automatically chalk it up to “just pregnancy.”

Talk to your doctor or another qualified medical professional about significant or persistent pain, especially if it’s interfering with your daily life.

And please don’t feel like you have to prove that you’re tough enough to suffer through it.

If You’re Pregnant and Your Feet Hurt, You’re Definitely Not Alone

I wish someone had talked to me more about how dramatically pregnancy could affect my feet. I mean, obviously I was prepared for morning sickness, heartburn, exhaustion, not being able to sleep, having to pee every 20 minutes, and labor.

What I wasn’t prepared for was being in so much pain that just standing in the kitchen making dinner became one of the hardest parts of my day.

And honestly, after going through all of that, I understand why a woman might look at the possibility of another pregnancy and think, “Absolutely not. I remember what happened to my feet.”

I still joke that I can handle giving birth seven more times before I’d willingly volunteer to repeat that pregnancy.

Labor? Fine.

Pushing a human out of my special place? Let’s go.

Pregnancy? Hard pass.

If you’re pregnant right now and dealing with foot pain, don’t just assume you have to suffer through it. There are things you can discuss with your healthcare provider, including supportive footwear, compression, elevation, massage, activity modifications, and other appropriate treatments.

And if your feet are carrying the literal weight of your pregnancy, give them a little love. They are doing a LOT more work than we give them credit for.

You can read KURU Footwear’s full report on foot pain during pregnancy here: Foot Pain During Pregnancy

And grab a pair of my favorite sneakers from KURU, the Apogee…