As any mother will confirm, pregnancy had a tremendous impact on the body. During pregnancy, a woman’s body gets by 30 pounds heavier on average, which completely changes her posture. Carrying that extra weight around is no simple feat, as it is both strenuous and exhausting for the body. In order to relieve you from the heavy burdens of pregnancy, and to prepare yourself for childbirth some of our leading osteopaths have compiled various tips and exercises for you to carry out.

Work-out Sessions: It is a good idea to maintain a consistent work-out routine throughout your pregnancy, but your routine has to be modified based on what stage of pregnancy you are in. For the first and second trimesters, having three to four 30-minute work-out sessions a week is great for keeping the blood circulation going. During the last trimester, you are best advised to stick to 20 minute sessions, because your added weight will otherwise make the longer sessions way too strenuous.

Types of Exercises: While cardio exercises offer an excellent work-out, we recommend exercises that still make you sweat, but control your heart-rate to 145 bpm. Some of the best exercises to do throughout pregnancy include; lunges and squats (without weights), as well as brisk-walking and swimming. Swimming is especially pleasant during your last trimester, as the water carries all your weight and alleviates the tensions in muscles. Other good sports to try during pregnancy are gentle aerobics and cycling. Remember to do some short, careful stretches before and after each work-out to make your joints and muscles more flexible.

Movements/Exercises to Avoid: Refrain from doing high-impact and contact sports, such as squash and football. It is also important to never hold a stretch position for longer than six seconds – pregnant bodies release the ‘relaxing’ hormone (which is necessary for labour) prematurely if a stretch is held for too long, which is potentially damaging to the joint areas. Also avoid lifting heavy object during pregnancy – do not overexert yourself.

Dietary tips: An order for you and your baby to feel at your best throughout pregnancy, a well-balanced diet is a must. A pregnant woman requires approximately 2500 calories a day – so just because you are feeding both yourself and your baby does not mean that you eat twice as much as you normally would. To get the proper amounts of energy and nutrition, make sure you eat something from each food group every day: whole grains and wheat, fruits and vegetables, meat and poultry (your protein source), and dairy products.

Visit an Osteopath: In order to keep a close watch on the changes your body is going through, start seeing an osteopathic doctor early on in the first trimester. This way, if you are doing your exercises incorrectly, or if certain muscles are under too much strain, we can step in sooner than later.

It is never easy being pregnant, what with weight gain, back aches, raging hormones, and sheer exhaustion. But hopefully, with the help of an osteopath and the techniques above, your passage from pregnant woman to loving mother will not only be bearable, but enjoyable.