Hi all,
Do you still suffer from back pain after having given birth? You’re not alone. Funnily enough there are a lot of websites out there telling you you’re not alone but not that many that tell you how to fix it.
You get many suggestions for preventing it; things like “don’t carry your baby on your hips” and that sort of thing. This might be technically correct but obviously ignores everything practical about life with a baby.
The only REAL way to solve post-natal back pain is by strengthening up the correct muscles.
A lot of the time back pain is caused by a weak, non-functioning, core. One of the things you also get when you have Diastasis Recti is backpain, it’s almost a package deal. In those cases sorting the Diastasis Recti, and restoring full core functionality, will resolve the back pain.
If your back-pain is caused by poor posture, whether in your neck and shoulders or in your midsection, then you can just strengthen up the correct muscles in those areas. If your lower backpain is caused by weaker glutes then you can focus specifically on strengthening your glutes up and re-aligning everything there. This will then help resolve your backpain. You can find some exercises on the YouTube channel, and they are also part of the program.
As you can see from the above I haven’t actually mentioned the lower back as one of the causes because it hardly ever is.
I’m writing this blog because I had an email from a lady who said that she’d been suffering from lower backpain ever since the birth of her child 7 months ago. She was considering doing some specific Post-Natal exercise, as she also suffered from Diastasis Recti, but would do some Pilates first because the back pain was a more urgent issue for her. Now Pilates is obviously a great system for strengthening up various areas but if you’re still suffering from DR then a class that doesn’t focus on that is pretty much the last thing you should be doing.
I have no doubt that her back pain is caused by her Diastasis Recti. If she now goes and does a bog standard Pilates class, with no proper core activation, she is going to be in more trouble down the line. If your core is not functioning properly you should not be holding any form of front loading plank!
You’re just not ready for this yet.
The best approach is to do what we do at Healthy Post Natal Body; Identify your weakest area and then focus on that. Do the exercises properly, focusing on muscle activation and control. Then strengthen the correct area up. The first 4 months of the program we target everything, focusing on restoring muscle functionality and core activation. After 4 months, you choose which area you need to focus on. You don’t have to experience any lower back-pain 4-6 months after giving birth and we will help you fix it. As I’ve said before; it’s not the new normal, start your free trail and get it sorted.
Take care,
Peter
