EXERCISES TO AVOID IN EARLY POST-BIRTH

Postpartum women must take precautions & avoid some exercises early post-birth.

Many mums are eager to become active again postbirth and return to exercise as soon as possible, thus postnatal exercise has many benefits. It can help you speed up your recovery, make you stronger and improve your mood. However, postnatal exercise doesn’t look the same as exercise before the baby. Postpartum women need to take some special precautions and avoid some of the exercises early post-birth.

Two issues that are common among postpartum women are ‘diastasis recti’, known as abdominal separation, and pelvic floor dysfunction. Thus, some exercises can put significant pressure on the pelvic floor and the abdominal wall. If these muscles are not strong enough, this can lead to long-term issues like incontinence or even pelvic organ prolapse.

1. Exercises you should avoid.

• sit-ups and crunches - are not necessarily bad exercises, but they don’t consider your whole core. These exercises focus on your superficial six-pack muscles, and you need to reconnect and regain strength from the inside and focus on your pelvic floor and your transverse abdominis muscles first, before you move to the more superficial muscles.

• planks - put lots of pressure on your pelvic floor and abdominal wall, and in most cases, the early postnatal body is not ready to withstand that pressure.

• push-ups - again, to perform this exercise you are in a very similar position to the plank, plus you add movement against gravity. That will cause lots of intra-abdominal pressure and requires a strong core and pelvic floor. To make this exercise more appropriate for postnatal women, you can do it on an incline (hands on a bench or a table) or even start with your hands on the wall.

• jumping/running or anything highimpact - these exercises not only put lots of pressure on your pelvic floor, but also, due to the hormone relaxin that is still present in your body, you are more prone to injuries, so highimpact exercises are not advisable.

• heavy lifting - also puts pressure on your pelvic floor and abdominal wall, plus you are also more likely to hold your breath during these exercises, which will increase that pressure even more and cause issues.

2. How long do you need to avoid these exercises for?

Well, this is very individual. I would recommend seeing a women’s health physiotherapist so they can assess your pelvic floor and your abdominal muscles. They will be able to give you the answer based on your individual assessment.

If for whatever reason you can’t see a women’s health physio, there are some problem signs you should be looking out for:

• doming - If your tummy is doming during any of the exercises, that means that you are not ready for that exercise.

• weeing - If any of the exercises cause incontinence, that’s a red flag.

• heaviness or pain in your pelvic area - These can be symptoms of pelvic organ prolapse.

• Remember, check with your General Practitioner if you have any concerns.

Exercise post-birth is not only about losing weight and getting rid of your ‘mummy-tummy’ but about restoring your physiological functions.

Magdalena Hawley is a Qualified Personal Trainer and Food & Wellness Coach. She is a founder and head trainer of Mums Going Strong Fitness group and personal training company specialising in postnatal fitness with a focus on core and pelvic floor recovery. Creator of Busy Fit Mums online program.