Correct postures for expectant mothers
Being a mother is the most beautiful and wonderful thing that exists in nature. In women this change brings with it a series of physical changes which, however, must be analyzed and faced with knowledge and conscience.
Pre-pregnancy pathologies
Having a healthy and athletic body is certainly an important parameter to monitor in order to have a correct pregnancy, but it is also important to evaluate the postural and muscular condition of the woman before she decides to have a baby. By now many women have a job that forces them to spend many hours in front of a monitor to work, forced into uncomfortable desks where the screen is placed in a position that is not exactly comfortable and with chairs that have little or nothing ergonomic. First, give physiotherapist, I recommend evaluating well postural hygiene which is used during working hours: when I speak of correct postural habits I mean
- moving every 20 minutes to stretch the legs and tighten the lumbar and neck muscles
- move the lower limbs to avoid fluid retention in the ankles and feet and promote venous recirculation.
- Already adapting these techniques greatly help the body to present itself in a correct health condition for when the time of pregnancy comes.
- Also adapting the screen so as to have a horizontal look and not to overload the cervical spine is another important strategy to avoid neck discomfort.
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Pre-pregnancy check-up
While it is often difficult to know in advance when you will get pregnant, at least knowing that you want a baby already is an indication of intention; for this reason if, in the mother's clinical history, there is at least once a low back pain attack (often when the pain goes down to the leg it is also called sciatica) I always recommend a postural assessment and a Mezieres postural re-education cycle: this type of approach not only allows to resolve painful conditions allowing a global and lasting lengthening, but also to favor the physiological repositioning of all body segments.
This repositioning therefore creates an ideal situation also for the future mother who, during pregnancy, will not have a particular compression on the lumbar vertebrae (they are the ones that will bear the full weight of the fetus and its amniotic sac).
Postures for the early stages of pregnancy
As I have already explained, unfortunately, everyday life is now more and more hectic and more and more agitated, with little being able to dedicate time to ourselves. In the early stages of pregnancy (up to 4-5 months) the expectant mother can safely carry out any task, as long as she pays attention to how she performs these maneuvers: scientific studies have shown that it is not only possible, but also recommended to perform suitable physical activity even during gestation. However, my advice is to avoid adopting those postures which, if maintained for a long time, can lead to pain and postural imbalances.
- As the woman's gynecologist has already pointed out, it is necessary avoid some postures in right lateral decubitus when resting as it could crush the inferior vena cava with the weight of the fetus and favor an abortion; the left side is highly recommended which does not place the weight of the fetus on the viscera and which promotes vascularization.
- For women who also have visceral problems such as constipation or discomfort during evacuation is also not recommended supine position as, with the growth of the weight of the child and of the relative belly, this with the force of gravity could press on the viscera.
- On the other hand, when standing upright, the advice regarding the back is logically those of the good old back school: avoid taking weights off the floor by keeping the knees extended and working everything on the back (this causes a great job of the lumbar area which in any case bears a lot of weight every day). So try to work a lot while lifting weights with your legs, doing bends on the knees in order to work the quadriceps and femoral muscles compared to the unsuitable lumbar muscles.
Correct postures after giving birth
Once the "bulk of the work" has been done, my advice is to start about a month after the birth of the baby a Mezieres postural re-education cycle: this type of method allows a global tensioning during the session of all the posterior muscles (the posterior chain is a sort of muscular continuum that goes from the nape to the sole of the foot), allowing not only a rebalancing of any dysmorphisms that have occurred created during the gestational period, but also to avoid that, during the various and tiring activities of the new mother for the baby, musculoskeletal aches or pains. A short cycle of visceral manual therapy may also be useful, i.e. the manual treatment of the fascial lodges that envelop the various abdominal viscera, thus favoring a better sliding of the sheets that surround the various organs and for the optimal distribution of the forces coming from the diaphragm. (from above) and from the lower limbs (from below).
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