The Secret to a Healthy Pregnancy: Pilates

Pregnancy can be physically tough for many women. Your body is changing, and with these changes can come aches, pains and changes in movement. One way that many women find relief during pregnancy is through Pilates. Prenatal Pilates exercises are designed to help mums-to-be develop strength and flexibility, which will make for an easier delivery and faster recovery afterwards! In this blog post we'll discuss how prenatal Pilates helps with all aspects of pregnancy: from preventing pain through pregnancy, making labour easier and improving your postpartum recovery.

Prenatal Pilates helps to prevent many of the aches and pains that pregnant women may experience. Pregnancy can cause back pain, pelvic pain, leg cramps and hip pain. Prenatal Pilates works on all these areas by building flexibility in your muscles and joints which will help you move more easily throughout pregnancy and feel better overall! Prenatal Pilates also has a focus on breathing: deep diaphragmatic breathing is important for staying calm through contractions, so learning how to breathe correctly during exercise is essential when it comes time for labour.

Labour itself provides another challenge - not only does one's body need to adapt physically but mentally as well (which can be very difficult!). Pregnant women often find that Prenatal Pilates gives them a sense of control and calm during labour. Prenatal Pilates teaches you how to focus and centre yourself, which can be very helpful when the contractions start coming! Prenatal Pilates has also been shown to help reduce the need for pain medication in labour, as well as shorten labour times.

Strengthening pelvic floor muscles is an important part of Prenatal Pilates. Strengthening these muscles will not only help you during pregnancy, labour and birth but it can also improve your bladder control after giving birth! Pregnancy causes a great deal of pressure on the pelvic floor muscles which, in turn, leads to weakening over time. 

After childbirth many women experience incontinence or loss of bladder control due to weakened pelvic floor muscles that are no longer being held up by the added pressure from carrying around a baby throughout pregnancy. Pregnant women often find that prenatal Pilates helps to regain bladder control more quickly than without exercise.

So if you're pregnant and looking for some relief from the aches and pains, or simply want to prepare yourself for labour and postpartum recovery, Prenatal Pilates is a great option! Talk to one of our physiotherapists about how you can get started, or book in online to one of our upcoming Prenatal Pilates Courses.

​Not sure where to start? Give our friendly Tarragindi Physiotherapy clinic a call on 07 3706 3407 or email us at info@articulatephysiotherapy.com.au