During pregnancy, your body is in a constant state of flux – you’ll experience physical, hormonal and emotional changes. As your baby and body grow your centre of gravity shifts and your spine changes shape.
Carrying more weight at the front of the body results in increased curves in your lower and upper back and neck. Due to the hormonal changes in your body your ligaments and joints become more flexible as pregnancy progresses to help prepare your pelvis for labour and delivery. As your soft tissue becomes more stretchy, your muscles have to work harder to stabilise you. Commonly it can lead to an imbalance of the stabiliser and superficial muscles which results in lower/upper back pain, pelvic pain, neck pain and headaches.
As you encounter some of these issues you may have many questions about how to manage your changing body. These problems are common but it doesn’t mean you have to just deal with it by yourself with the thought of ‘this is part of pregnancy and there’s nothing I can do about it’. There actually are many options to help you.
What are the benefits of having Physiotherapy during pregnancy ?
Physiotherapy can help you at every stage of your pregnancy and even as you prepare to get pregnant. There are a variety of treatment methods to help increase your comfort and optimise your functional by improving alignment and strengthening your postural and core muscles. Here are some options:
- Manual therapy including pelvic and rib realignment, soft tissue release, mobilisation
- Postural awareness and strengthening
- Education and advice on pain management and strategies to help you minimise and prevent strains on your changing body
- Exercise prescription to help strengthen core and pelvic floor muscles
- Sports taping to help maintain realignment strategies and improve function
- Prescription of supports and braces
Benefits of Pilates during Pregnancy
Exercise during pregnancy has been shown to be very beneficial for both your health as well as the health of your baby.
In our Pilates classes, we focus on helping you gain more awareness of your everyday postures, strengthen your postural muscles including your core, lower and upper back, pelvis, as well as pelvic floor muscles. These prepare your body for carrying your growing baby during pregnancy, labour and childbirth, and your long term pelvic floor health for example helping to prevent incontinence. Pilates also helps prevent ongoing pains postnatally as your body learns and readjusts to new tasks such as breastfeeding, carrying and settling Baby, and changing many, many diapers.
In the classes, you will be provided with safe stretching and strengthening exercises to relieve neck, back, shoulder, wrist and pelvic pain. The classes are tailored to each individual targeting their particular concerns and preventative needs so you can feel strong, happy and healthy.
You can get advice from your instructor at each session with any concerns during your pregnancy.
We can help you prepare for pregnancy, during your pregnancy and help you after delivery to allow you to enjoy the wonderful experience of birthing a child!
Contact us for more information on how to stay fit, safe and healthy during your childbirth journey.