80% of women will experience back pain during pregnancy. The severity of back pain varies with your regular routine during pregnancy, for example, if you stand for longer periods, it may make back pain even worse.
So, following regular physical activity like gentle stretching and movement will help to reduce the muscle spasm, improve the spinal functioning and thus resulting in decreased discomfort and pain. Practicing pregnancy exercises for back pain can also improve your energy levels and lead to safe labor and delivery. Pregnancy exercises can also help you during your postpartum recovery period.
Pregnancy exercises for back pain include cardiovascular exercises, strength training workouts and flexibility training.
1. Cardiovascular pregnancy exercises for back pain
Cardiovascular exercises can improve the heart rate for a specific time period. Swimming, walking, and biking are considered safe activities during pregnancy. Practicing these activities for 20-30 minutes for at least 3 days a week can have a great effect on back pain relief. Remember that these exercises are safe only when performed mildly to a moderate extent.
2. Strength training pregnancy exercises for back pain
Strengthening your back muscles, abdominal muscles, pelvic floor, thighs, and buttocks can greatly help to ease your back pain. Remember that strengthening exercises should be performed only in a slow and controlled manner during pregnancy. Performing pelvic tilts can strengthen your abdominal muscles; arm and leg raises can strengthen buttocks and back muscles; kegel exercises can strengthen your pelvic floor muscles; and wall squats can strengthen abdominal, buttock and thigh muscles.
3. Flexibility pregnancy exercises for back pain
These are as essential as cardiovascular and strength training for preventing back pain. Flexibility can be improved by performing stretching exercises every day after warming up. Hold the stretching workouts for at least 20-30 seconds and repeat them 3-5 times. Stretching exercises during pregnancy can help to target back, chest and neck muscles, and hamstring.
Pregnancy exercises for back pain are the simplest way to get comfort and relief during such a stressful period. Remember that before starting any exercise program, you need to discuss your symptoms with the care provider in order to ensure that exercising will help relieve those symptoms. Some pregnant women may need more intense or individualized treatment to get relief from back pain.
Pregnancy exercises will not relieve back pain; they can also help to reduce various pregnancy symptoms, such as fatigue, constipation, improve the sleep quality, ease the labor, speed your postpartum recovery and help in giving birth to a healthy baby.
