Postnatal exercise – helping to alleviate back pain, part 1
24/09/2010

It is very common for pregnant women to experience back pain both during and after pregnancy, many women think it is often their back that is actually the problem when in fact most of the time their back is rather the symptom than the cause. Postnatal exercise needs to have a focus on addressing the issue rather than leaving it and hoping it will go away, either with time or by changing how you lift something or someone!

Why do I get back pain?

Although we cannot say for certain what causes your back pain we can outline various factors that will definately contribute to it and if trained help make it better. Throughout your pregnancy your pelvis will continue to tilt as the size and weight of your bump increases, this in turn causes your abdominals and glutes to stretch meaning they no longer provide adequate support for your back. In fact your back then becomes responsible for taking most of the day to day strain, resulting in back pain. After you have given birth, although your pelvis tilts back somewhat your glutes and ab's remain stretched to some degree meaning there is less support for your back so the back pain therefore persists.

How do I get rid of back pain?

During your pregnancy there isn't a great deal you can do, depending on the weight and size of your bump you almost certainly can't eliminate it but you can try and manage. It helps to try and be aware of the position of your pelvis when you're standing, sitting, walking or even performing exercise, if you feel as though it is tilting a lot to the front (if it is you will like your bum is sticking out) then try and correct it by tucking your tailbone back underneath yourself. Also performing abdominal and glute exercises like lunges, squats, pelvis bridges and abdominal hollowing will help to train the muscles that contribute to providing support for your back. Postnatally it becomes imperative that your postnatal exercise regime contains exercises that will retrain both your glutes and abdominals, you should aim to perform 3 sets of 15 reps with 30s rest when doing any such exercises. Also, it's important that when trying to get back your postnatal fitness that you are again aware of the position of your pelvis and you consciously try and bring it into a neutral position as often as possible, eventually it will then come back to its normal position.

Best exercises to get rid of back pain?

During pregnancy performing lunges, squats, pelvis bridges and abdominal hollowing are all great exercises, although you want to exercise similar areas in your postnatal fitness like we said you can do this to a greater extent and also now work your rectus abdominals – these are the ones going down the front that directly get stretched during pregnancy. Start slow and build it up gradually, static crunches, planks, dynamic crunches are all great ways to get the feeling and strength back into your abdominals.

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