Appropriate exercise during pregnancy has many fantastic benefits, including:

• Preventing and managing pregnancy related conditions such as low back pain, pelvic girdle pain, incontinence, pelvic organ prolapse and gestational diabetes;

• Preparing yourself for labour and childbirth;

• Maintaining good fitness and good health to enhance recovery after the birth; and

• Preparing you for the physical challenges of life with a newborn!

In fact, the most recent guidelines on physical activity in pregnancy recommend that mothers should get at least 150 minutes of moderate intensity physical activity per week, including a combination of aerobic and resistance exercise. 

However, throughout pregnancy the mother’s body undergoes numerous changes that can make participating in physical activity challenging. These can include:

• Increased ligament laxity (ligaments become softer and more stretchy) which can lead to less stable joints and possibly pain or injury;

• Changes in muscle length to accommodate the growing baby, which can change how well the muscles work during certain activities and exercises;

• Diastasis of the rectus abdominus (separation of the stomach muscles)

• Increased pelvic floor loads; and

• Reduced energy levels and cardio-vascular ability.

As such, it is usually necessary to modify your pregnancy exercise program to accommodate these physical changes and allow you to continue to exercise safely and ideally throughout your pregnancy. These changes may include:

• Modifying training loads (intensity and frequency of exercise);

• Reducing high impact exercise as ligament laxity and pelvic floor loads increase;

• Changing your abdominal exercises as crunches, sit-ups and planks etc often cause doming and become problematic in the later stages of pregnancy; and

• Introduction of specific, targeted exercises to strengthen the pelvic floor, abdominals and pelvic stabilisers.

As every woman and every pregnancy is unique, these changes are best made in consultation with your women’s health physiotherapist.  This will ensure the exercise program is appropriate for you and your stage of pregnancy, enabling you to enjoy an active pregnancy and all the benefits this will reward you with. 

Antenatal Exercise in Special Populations

For some women, exercise during pregnancy needs to be closely supervised by their healthcare team. For example, mothers with gestational diabetes may need to monitor their blood glucose levels (blood sugar levels) before, during and after exercise and adjust their exercise type and intensity to keep their blood sugar levels within the ideal range. Mother’s with placenta accreta/increta/percreta (where the placenta attaches beyond the usual attachment to the uterine wall) need to engage in exercise that does not increase the risk of pre-term labour as their labour needs to be well managed by their medical team to ensure a good outcome for Mum and Bub. This is also the case for Mothers with placenta previa. Mother’s with an ‘incompetent’ cervix need to take special care with the type of exercise they do to ensure that no undue stress is put on the already challenged cervix. In these special cases the risk vs benefit of exercise needs to be weighed up by the mother in consultation with her medical team (usually in consultation with her obstetrician), and is best conducted under the supervision of qualified health care practitioners who can monitor the health and safety of Mum and Bub (such as Ante-Natal exercise classes conducted by Physiotherapists). 

Our physiotherapists trained in Women’s Health are here to help you safely exercise during your pregnancy.