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| Post-Partum Back Pain |  Post-partum back pain is not uncommon condition. Some women who passed over pregnancy without any back pain can be disappointed to be plagued with post-partum back pain. Due to an instant weight loss of about 10-12 pounds, your center of gravity, which has shifted during pregnancy, experiences a sudden shift back again. This will impact posture and can lead to post-partum back pain.
Unhappily, woman’s pregnant body does not return to its pre-pregnancy state overnight. It takes hard work to get back to good physical condition. But returning to your normal weight and restoring the strength of the abdominal, pelvic floor and back muscles will be key to managing post-partum back pain.
It is recommended that the mother should wait for at least six weeks to go in for exercise after delivery of the child. Strenuous exercise, like jogging or heavy weight lifting should be avoided in the early stages of post-partum. Nevertheless, it is safe to go in for alternatives like walking, isometric and gentle stretching exercises. These will help you to get back into shape, assist the weight loss process, help manage post-partum back pain and prepare you for returning to your normal activity level.
To begin with, you can try out a walking program at a suitable pace. For example, you can walk around your neighborhood at a comfortable pace for about twenty minutes per day. Then, you can increase your pace and distance gradually once you regained your endurance. Walking helps you tone your muscles, build endurance and burn some of the materal fat stores that developed during pregnancy in order to help you lose excess weight. These combined effects will help combat port-partum back pain.
Moreover, you can also use isometric exercises to build muscle strength without putting stress on your joints. The major muscle groups to concentrate on are the abdominals, inner thighs, front thighs, buttocks, and upper back. For example, when performing the exercise on your upper back, you should squeeze your shoulder blades together and press your chest forward. You should hold each contraction for 5-7 seconds; repeat 5-10 repetitions, 3 times per day.
Besides, the stretching exercises that are recommended during your pregnancy are safe to resume insensibly post-partum. If you try to stretch too quickly or too far, you may feel pain due to the instability of the pelvis and spine. Instead, you should slowly stretch to the point of a comfortable pulling sensation and hold the stretch for 15-20 seconds and repeat 3 times. It is important to regain normal flexibility in order to minimize stress on the joints of the spine and pelvis.
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