Hey all; a little context: My question has to do with biological woman anatomy.
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Being a woman has ups and downs, and for a lot of us I know the pains of periods can be excruciating. I have a pretty general question I’ve been wondering.
Why do women, during some cycles, feel pain in the front of their abdomen, and other times in their hips, or back? I feel in my experience, 95% of the time, my pain originates from the front of my body. But that extra 5% is always in my lower back. (Tbh I’d rather the back pain) Is there a scientific reason for this?
In: 25
My assumption (also as a woman who has periods) is that because your entire set of abdominal muscles is connected like a girdle/corset, a pull on one side can be felt in other places – all the muscles move together and compensate for each other. Layer in the idea that your exercise/physical activity probably differs from month to month, using your muscles in different ways, probably contributes to it
Would love for a medical expert to chime in, though.
Prostaglandins build up in the lining of your uterus and cause you to cramp to shed it, but they aren’t very targeted so can ‘leak’ out into the surrounding area. This means some people get cramps in their back, or thighs. They also affect your bowels so can cause diarrhea.
You can have pain at ovulation on either the right or left side. Sometimes one side will be worse, especially if you have cystic ovaries.
Menstrual pain can happen anywhere around your uterus because the cramping can happen in other muscles, notoriously your back, but also bowels.
It seems like there can be a good and bad ovary, like one that tends to give worse symptoms than the other. Also, because the hormones are being produced by the follicle that shed the egg that cycle, some follicles can be slightly different than others. So some months you might be pretty okay and others you’re in agony.
Hormones are a helluva drug.
Alright, let’s break this down step by step:
1. Inside a woman’s belly, there’s a special organ called the uterus.
2. Every month, the uterus gets ready for a baby.
3. If no baby comes, the uterus cleans itself out, and this causes period pain.
4. Sometimes, pain is felt in different places because the body is complex, and things like muscles and nerves can affect where you feel the pain.
5. Just like sometimes a tummy ache can feel different, period pain can change too.
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