We are all too familiar with the factual statements regarding exercise: exercise for a better pregnancy, a better baby, to lose weight, for a better brain, better mood, a better gut, etc etc.
Our bodies were designed in every aspect for movement. It’s how we interact with the world. (And you’ll delight in watching your little one doing this!)
Modern living, for all its benefits, doesn’t require the same movement from us, so ‘Exercise’ has had to step in to prevent disease and facilitate our holistic wellbeing.
Hence the coined term in sports medicine that “exercise IS medicine’.
This is a really inspiring fact about exercise: exercise facilitates better physical recovery in the postnatal phase.
This has nothing to do with losing baby weight, or toning, or fitness, but the actual improved physical recovery of your scar, abdominal wall, diastasis, muscle-and-skeletal system and better coordinated movement.
Pregnancy brings a lot of change to your body, including these to your musculoskeletal system:
- Increased joint, ligament, and fascia laxity due to altered collagen fibre structure and volume.
- A shift in the centre of gravity with a baby belly affecting your balance.
- Changes in spinal curvature and a wider ribcage, and the baby’s position influencing your movement and potentially causing discomfort.
- Muscle adaptations to provide support and generate movement.
Childbearing is so often a definite point of change for a woman’s physical body, and restoring the movement system supports a positive space in physical comfort, body-confidence, pelvic health, and the ability to exercise. This snowballs to a healthier cardiovascular system, endocrine health, social and emotional etc etc!
This is how movement facilitates physical recovery after pregnancy.
- It restores your core strength and coordination. The 4 muscles that make up your true core were the very ones that were changed the most by your pregnancy and delivery. It has been really interesting to see in my practice how their strength and coordinated action often does not automatically return to normal (i.e. correct), even with intense gym training. These 4 true core muscles working together well helps set the foundation of healthy neck, back and pelvic movement and posture.
- Reciprocal, alternating movement like walking and swimming encourages coordinated movement between your left and right sides, front and back – from your shoulder, through your spine and abdominal muscles, from your hip to your big toe.
This ‘coordinated movement’ is so important as it helps to work away restrictions and asymmetries from pregnancy and gets muscles working together efficiently and effectively.
Walking is never a cop-out to running! It achieves the above-mentioned better than running does. It is a level of good impact to start off with. And it is the perfect holistic and family activity. Get to know all the routes to take your kid on!
- Controlled tension and therefore strengthening of collagen structures, in the pelvic fascia, linear alba and tendons) is a benefit of resistance, or strength training.
The tension of a muscle pull on collagen forces their re-alignment and strengthening, which is very relevant in the abdominal wall and c-section scar. Collagen is pretty much our main ingredient.
Strength training is the ideal way to encourage all the good changes in your body postpartum. It is safe and controlled. When you start out with lighter weights and good form, it helps to- ease tight muscles and spasm,
- activate muscles that were less active or inhibited in pregnancy, by gradually building muscle, you will improve your basal metabolic rate which helps to lose weight and avoid high blood sugar levels.
If you are unsure of how to start, consider working with a Biokineticist specifically trained in ante- and post-natal exercise.
- Flexibility, balance and posture reset can be achieved with Pilates, mindful functional training, or yoga. These forms of movement bring so many other benefits as well. The breathing practises that yoga teaches will alone effectively improve your core.
The ultimate goal is to establish a healthy movement system for life, which is maintaining joint mobility for healthier joints, enhancing proprioception for better physical awareness, and promoting bone density through impact and resistance training.
My goal is for you to discover the joy of movement as a fulfilling aspect of life, and as a facilitator in self-care and self-love.
Keep moving and enjoy the motherhood journey being a happier, healthier you!
