September 6th, 2018 by Chris Chapman

It’s no secret that being pregnant can be hard on your body. If you’re expecting, you probably know all too well how hard it can be to continue living an active life. One of the most common side-effects of pregnancy is swollen ankles and feet. This can really impact your life as your feet and ankles become inflamed, making it hard to stand for extended periods. It can even be difficult to get your shoes on in some cases, leading to long days of discomfort that can really get you down. If swollen ankles during pregnancy have you knocked off your feet, read on. We’ll walk you through what causes ankle inflammation and what you can do to treat it.

Why Do My Ankles Swell During Pregnancy?

When you’re pregnant, your body has to produce a lot of extra blood and other fluids to accommodate for your growing baby. Your body generally gets a lot softer as a result to prepare for giving birth. Unfortunately, this extra water weight can take its toll on your body, which isn’t used to all the extra work it’ll have to do. Your circulatory system has to work a lot harder to move all this fluid around your body, meaning more of it ends up at your feet. This is what causes swelling in your feet and ankles during pregnancy.

How to Treat Swollen Ankles During Pregnancy

There are plenty of ways to treat swollen ankles during pregnancy. Read on for a few of the best!

Elevate Your Feet

As you might have figured out, the reason your ankles swell during pregnancy has a lot to do with gravity. It’s easy for your body to move the extra fluid down to your feet, but it’s a lot harder for it to move that same fluid upwards through your legs. Help your body out a bit by elevating your feet using pillows or footrests. This will naturally reduce swelling by making it easier for blood to circulate away from your feet.

Wear Compression Stockings

Sadly, it’s not always possible to put your feet up even if you are pregnant! If you’re still out and about a lot during your pregnancy, consider picking up some compression stockings (or circulation socks as they’re sometimes called). They aren’t the most flattering things to look at, but these stockings will help improve circulation up your legs. Compression stockings work by applying slightly different amounts pressure to different parts of your legs in a similar way to your muscles. This helps your legs fight gravity and pump the extra blood away from your ankles, preventing swelling.

Use Heat and Ice on Your Feet and Ankles

Did you know the calf muscles are known as the “second heart”? This is because, while your heart is strong enough to pump blood out into your body, it isn’t quite strong enough to get the blood back into the heart again. To do this, the heart enlists the help of the calf muscles to fight gravity by pumping the blood up your legs and back into your body! During pregnancy, your calf muscles can struggle to do this properly which can lead to ankle swelling. Using a combination of ice and heat is a great way to quickly relieve swelling and to ease the pain that comes with it. Use an ice pack or some frozen veggies from the freezer on your feet and ankles to bring the swelling down (don’t apply them directly to your skin though – wrap them in a towel first). Once you’ve done this, you can slide your feet into an electric foot warmer – such as this extra-cosy Sweet Dreams foot warmer – to help prevent the swelling from coming back. When you apply heat to your feet, it improves circulation, soothing aches and pains and helping to prevent your feet from blowing up.

Use an Electric Blanket

The same principle of using heat to improve circulation can apply to your whole body, so if you’re having a lot of problems with swelling ankles, you can use an electric blanket in bed. This will help improve circulation around your whole body, especially your feet, meaning you’ll wake up feeling refreshed rather than swollen and tender. Electric blankets are perfectly safe to use while pregnant as modern models come with overheat protection so they’ll shut off if they start to get too warm. Do note, though, that you shouldn’t use electric blankets if you’re more than 8 months pregnant in case your waters break in the night.

Drink Lots of Water and Reduce Your Salt Intake

You might think that if your body is retaining a lot of extra water while you’re pregnant, drinking lots of water would make swollen ankles worse. In fact, drinking water actually helps reduce ankle swelling when you’re expecting! This is because it helps flush out your system, reducing swelling while also helping out with many other side-effects of pregnancy such as morning sickness and indigestion. Another thing that helps reduce swollen ankles is to cut down on the salt in your diet. Salt makes your body retain more water rather than it needs to, which, combined with your growing baby, adds up to a lot of extra weight and swelling! Replace table salt with other seasonings and always check the salt contents of any food you eat.