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Let's face it: You may feel like you have been hit by a train after childbirth. You did the equivalent of a triathalon. Exercise may be the last thing on your mind after birth. Yet this may be the best time to soothe your postpartum aches and pains with very gentle healing exercises that you can easily incorporate into your new daily routine.
The exercises in this plan can help you begin to feel better physically and mentally. Keep in mind that the immense transformation your body undergoes during pregnancy reverses gradually. Although you may be anxious to regain your pre-pregnancy figure, it generally takes six weeks for the hips, pelvis and connecting muscles to realign. It may take longer to shed extra pounds.
Gentle exercises can hasten the restorative process and help you to stand taller, flatten your abdominal muscles, prevent long-term posture
problems and prepare you to return to your favorite sports. It is important that your back, pelvis and the connecting muscles return to their proper alignment before resuming regular
exercise. Chronic pain can result from premature sessions of running, stepping or weight lifting with misaligned posture and loose joints and ligaments.
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Goals Check with your health care provider before starting this plan. After an uncomplicated delivery, you may begin the day after delivery. The goals of the restoration plan include:
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Here is the four-part plan. To make the plan easy to follow, try to incorporate the exercises into your daily routine.
2. When you shower, your muscles are warm and relaxed. This is a good time to stretch your chest muscles, hip flexors and lower back. With your back against the wall and feet hip width apart, press your lower back to the wall and pull your navel to your spine. Take five minutes to stretch all the leg muscles.
3. Each day, spend five to ten minutes on your back practicing pelvic tilts by pressing your lower back to the floor while pulling abdominal muscles in. Progress to sit-ups. Splint your abdominal muscles with a towel if you feel a separation in between your recti (abdominal) muscles right above your navel.
4. Exercise with your baby by walking for 10 minutes, and add five minutes each week. If it's raining, play music and dance together instead.
Post it on the Fitness and Nutrition Discussion Board!
About the Author: Sandra Greiner is a Pre- & Postnatal Fitness Instructor. Her main goal is to promote fitness and wellness for mind, body and baby both during and after pregnancy. She worked in corporate wellness during her first pregnancy and was disappointed with the lack of wellness-related prenatal educational resources. After her son was born, she developed Healthy Expectations, a fitness and wellness program for pregnant women and a mother-baby program. Her classes include exercises for pregnancy, relaxation training and guest speakers on wellness topics such as nutrition, massage and breastfeeding.
