It is fair to say that every woman’s body is different both during and after pregnancy and unfortunately, there is no predicting how your body will cope with growing a baby for 9 months and the stress of childbirth. Lots of women even find that the pregnancy of their second baby differs quite dramatically from their first, as does their labour and birth, not to mention their post-natal body.
That being said, it isn’t uncommon for lots of women to experience the same issues with their body during pregnancy and also once they’ve given birth. Whilst it can be reassuring to know that you aren’t alone in what you’re experiencing and these problems are completely normal, it doesn’t make them go away and these problems aren’t something that women simply have to ‘put up with’ forevermore once they’ve had a baby.
You will be happy to know that a post-natal exercise program can really help the majority of common problems experienced by new mums. We understand that simply hearing the words ‘exercise program’ can be quite daunting if you’re still getting to grips with day-to-day life with a newborn, but we can assure you that the exercises required to help with post-natal body problems won’t be anything like the high-intensity workouts that you’ve seen in the gym.
If you’re keen to find out more about the common post-natal body problems that exercise can help with, below we have looked into them in more detail for you.
Diastasis recti
A huge percentage of women will suffer from diastasis recti once they’ve had a baby and more often than not, it can be healed with exercise. Sometimes, physical therapy may also be required and in really severe cases surgery may be recommended, but this isn’t very common.
As you may already know, diastasis recti is when your abdominal muscles separate during pregnancy and they don’t come back together again. Lots of women will have a few finger widths of a gap between their right and left abdominal wall muscles and this can cause them to struggle to cope with abdominal pressure such as coughing or sneezing.
Exercise should always be the first approach to healing diastasis recti and for the vast majority of women, it will be incredibly effective. There are some really simple deep stomach muscle exercises that you can complete on a regular basis that will help you to strengthen your core and bring your abdominal wall muscles back together. With numerous ‘diastasis recti exercises’ to work on, over time, you should start to see a big improvement.
Pelvic floor problems
This is another big post-natal body problem that women experience and lots of women suffer from things like stress incontinence and pelvic prolapse. Again, more often than not, these are all things that can be helped when you follow a post-natal exercise program.
It is completely normal for your pelvic floor to change during pregnancy and after birth as your muscles will become stretched and weakened and also your tissue will loosen too. However, the problems that you’re experiencing won’t go away on their own and it is important to start strengthening your pelvic floor muscles as soon as you feel comfortable doing so.
The majority of pelvic floor exercises can be started almost immediately after birth and they are safe to do because the muscles you’re strengthening are ones that you will use on a daily basis anyway. There are some really simple pelvic floor exercises that you can do when you’re simply sitting on the sofa and there are some others that will require more effort. When you make time for these exercises and do them regularly, they really can make a huge difference.
Backache and neck pain
Almost all women will experience some aches and pains in the first few weeks postpartum, however, they won’t always go away on their own. Professionals tend to recommend rest or exercise for these aches and pains, but physical therapy and medication may also be required.
Common problems like backache and neck pain can be related to your pregnancy, your baby’s birth or even the things that you’re doing when you’re looking after your newborn. These aches and pains usually start because your hormones loosen your ligaments and joints during pregnancy and your posture may have changed during this time too.
When it comes to exercising to help with things like backache, lots of women find that strengthening specific muscles in their body can help to relieve the pain they are experiencing and a post-natal exercise program will help you to target the correct muscles. Often, improving your core strength will make a big difference to lots of the most common aches and pains, but you do need to be very careful when you’re working on your ab muscles after pregnancy.
Poor posture
Lastly, this is something else that almost all women will suffer from both during and after pregnancy. Really, the only way you can correct problems caused by poor posture is with exercise and by retraining your body to stand and sit with correct posture again.
Your posture will naturally change during pregnancy to enable your body to carry your baby and many women begin to notice their incorrect posture in their second and third trimester as their baby gets bigger. During pregnancy, lots of women experience multiple alignment problems that cause their spine to create an ‘S’ shape, also known as Lordosis.
By following a post-natal exercise program, you can begin to correct your posture as you retrain and strengthen any of the muscles that have been stretched by pregnancy or developed to support your new poor posture. Correcting your posture does take time and patience, but it is definitely possible. Many women find that working on their posture has a positive impact on lots of general aches and pains they’re experiencing too, so it’s always worth focusing on.
How Healthy Post Natal-Body can help
All in all, it is fair to say that following a post-natal exercise program might be the answer to all of your problems, so to speak, and it is definitely worthwhile looking into in more detail. However, we can’t stress enough how important it is to ensure that you’ve been given the go-ahead from a medical professional before you start exercising again once you’ve had a baby and also that you’re following an exercise program that has been put together by a post-natal specialist.
Thankfully, that’s where we come in. Here at Healthy Post-Natal Body, we can provide you with the guidance you need to overcome some of the common body problems that you’re experiencing after the birth of your baby. We can assure you that you will be in the best hands when you turn to us for assistance and we can help you to get your health back. With some hard work and dedication, you can even feel fitter and stronger than you’ve ever been before.
Our post-natal exercise programs are all tailored to your individual needs too and we will take the time to get to know you and the problems you’re experiencing before providing you with useful exercises that are safe to complete. You will receive a monthly 7-minute long home routine and 2 strength training routines, so it’s enough to make a difference without bombarding you when you’re just starting to get back into exercise.
Also, our post-natal exercise programs can be completed from the comfort of your own home and you won’t have to worry about stepping foot in a gym. You will only need a small amount of equipment too, such as a mat, some resistance bands and a swiss ball, but we can talk you through all of this in more detail when you start your membership. If you have any question at all regarding how exercise can help with the body problems that you’re experiencing, please don’t hesitate to get in touch today.
Peter
