How Prenatal Physical Therapy Can Ease the Difficulties of Pregnancy
Pregnancy “prehab” will help prepare you for the big day
Pregnancy is full of little excitements: decorating the new baby’s room, picking out baby clothes, and scrolling through name websites. But it also comes saddled with plenty of aches and pains–not to mention anxiety about the birth itself! Fortunately, the experts at Vitality Women’s Physical Therapy in IL can help make your pregnancy–and the delivery–a piece of cake.
You’ve probably heard the term “rehab.” It’s short for rehabilitation, and most people associate it with recovery from injury or surgery. But there’s also “prehab:” a form of rehabilitation that takes place before a physically demanding event. And giving birth will definitely be physically demanding!
At Vitality Women’s Physical Therapy, we offer extensive physical therapy treatments for expectant mothers. These treatments can help soothe the physical difficulties of the pregnancy itself, but more importantly, they can get you ready for actually birthing your baby. Schedule an appointment with Vitality Women’s Physical Therapy in IL and learn more about our pregnancy prehab program!
How pregnancy affects your body
Pregnancy is not easy on the body. Growing a baby takes energy, for one thing. But the other reason pregnancy can be difficult is that it physically changes your body. Your entire musculoskeletal system is shaping itself to accommodate the growing baby and prepare for the eventual birth.
These physical changes include ligaments becoming more flexible, changes in your spine and center of gravity, weight gain, and more. The result for many women is a slew of unpleasant side effects. One of the most common is persistent pain in the joint, particularly in the lower back. Some women also have difficulty adjusting their posture to their new body shape. And that’s not even getting into the many hormonal and emotional changes your body is going through!
All of these changes are gearing up for the big day: your baby’s birth. But with increased pain and decreased physical activity, you may not feel like your body is quite as ready for delivery as you would hope. However, a prenatal pre-habilitation or rehabilitation program at Vitality Women’s Physical Therapy can help physically prepare you for birth.
How prenatal rehabilitation can get you ready for delivery
The goal of pregnancy prehab is two-fold: one, we want to make sure you’re prepared for the physical taxation of birth. But two, we want to ensure your postpartum recovery goes as smoothly as possible.
Two significant aspects of prenatal rehabilitation are pain management and physical activity. Many expectant mothers find that they exercise less than before they were pregnant, usually due to a combination of back pain, stress, fatigue, or simply being too busy.
At Vitality Women’s Physical Therapy, we offer several drug-free pain management techniques to help make physical activity a little easier. These include approaches like strengthening exercises, stretching, diaphragmatic breathing, kinesiotaping, support devices, electrical stimulation, and manual therapy.
Gentle exercise is one of the best ways to combat the pain of pregnancy, so we’ll also work with you to develop a customized exercise program to get you moving. Workouts like strength exercises, stretching, biking, water aerobics, walking, or gentle yoga will go a long way toward getting you physically fit for your baby’s birth.
But pregnancy prehab is also about getting a head start on your postpartum recovery. Exercise is a major contributor–studies show that even light exercise during pregnancy can help with recovery efforts. Why? Because by exercising now, you’re helping to maintain or build strength, improve cardiorespiratory fitness, and make it easier for your muscles to return to their pre-pregnant state after delivery. Exercise during pregnancy also optimizes your baby’s health as well!
Our therapists can also provide education and exercises designed to prepare your core and pelvic floor–the primary muscle group involved when delivering your baby. We’ll get you started with exercises designed to teach your muscles how to properly coordinate and lengthen during delivery. Your muscles will be ready for when it’s time to push and your baby to be born! Your therapist will also teach you how to complete perineal mobilization at home and during labor so that your muscles can stay relaxed and stretched. Lastly, they will teach you different positions and exercises you can do either at home or your birthing location to help progress labor and reduce pain. All of this can help with decreasing the risk and/or severity of injury during labor.
What to expect at your Vitality Women’s Physical Therapy prehab appointments
We’ll start with a thorough physical assessment and health history, which will help us better understand your specific needs and requirements. Specifically, we’ll look at your overall mobility, strength, movement patterns, and posture. We’ll also spend some time looking at specific areas that may be causing you pain.
From there, we’ll work with you to develop a personalized prehab program to alleviate prenatal pain, increase or maintain physical activity, and prepare your body for birth. At subsequent appointments, we’ll walk you through specific exercises, measure your progress, and set you up with an exercise program for at-home training!
Schedule your prenatal appointment today!
Pregnancy is tough, but the experts at Vitality Women’s Physical Therapy in IL are here to help make it a little easier. Schedule an appointment with us today and get a head start on an easier delivery and a faster postpartum recovery!