Pregnancy is an incomparable time in every mother’s life, where everything you do and consume directly impacts your baby in some way or another. As a result, there is a range of appointments/treatments required to ensure everything is progressing well throughout the journey, where you will learn that looking after yourself, as well as the baby, is immensely important.
While it may add another appointment to your busy schedule, introducing physiotherapy can have profound benefits on your body and ultimately aid your physical health. BodyMotion Physio explores how pregnancy physio helps ease the entire process for our clients.
How Prenatal Physiotherapy During Pregnancy Can Help
Your body goes through many changes during pregnancy to facilitate the wonderful process of growing a child. These changes, while completely expected, can cause you to feel uncomfortable or even in pain and leave many pregnant women unsure how to adequately adjust.
Physiotherapy is a physical treatment that helps people improve or restore their physical fitness and flexibility, so during pregnancy, it can assist women in maintaining their fitness while their body changes.
Benefits of Pregnancy & Prenatal Physiotherapy
Relieves lower back pain
Pain in the lower back is one of the most common and prolonged experiences for pregnant women. The back is responsible for maintaining posture and holding weight, so as it recalibrates to the increasing weight of the body, the muscles in the lower back work harder and become stressed, causing discomfort and pain. Physiotherapy and remedial massage are some of the most effective methods of combatting this kind of pain.
Pregnancy & prenatal physiotherapy helps relax the muscles through exercises tailored to relieve the stress in the lower back. Performing exercises instructed by your physiotherapist consistently can help you manage the discomfort and your body to adapt to the significant changes occurring.
Eases incontinence
Incontinence is an issue that can cause discomfort both before and after delivery. Due to numerous lifestyle changes and adaptions in the pelvic floor muscles, pregnant women often have difficulty controlling their bladder. Physiotherapy helps people control their muscles more effectively, so regular exercises can help relieve pregnant women from incontinence, or at least reduce the severity of the issue.
Loosens tight muscles and joints
Pregnant women also experience general muscle and joint tightness as their body changes quickly and their muscles struggle to keep up. A common symptom of tight muscles and joints in pregnant women is aches and pain in their joints, which creates an unpleasant addition to the overall experience. Prenatal physiotherapy is specifically designed to reduce muscle and joint stiffness, and many pregnant women find consistent pain relief throughout their pregnancy from consistent practice.
Eases delivery
Pregnancy is a demanding process, so it’s no wonder many pregnant women become less active to support themselves in other ways. Movement is also a lot more uncomfortable and causes fatigue while their bodies adapt to the changes.
This is why maintaining a physiotherapy routine can be very helpful in keeping the body active and restoring a moderate level of physical fitness. When it comes time for labour and delivery, physiotherapy has proven benefits in making the process smoother and more comfortable as their muscles are looser.
Learn More on Prenatal Physiotherapy Today
If you would like to learn more on the benefits of pregnancy physio, or have certain questions, like how often you should visit your physio, please contact us at BodyMotion Physio today.
