Can Pregnancy Pilates in East Sheen help
For most women, pregnancy is a fantastic and exciting time but it’s also a really tough one for the body. The hormonal changes and the physical demands of carrying a baby inside you for nine months can cause many things to go wrong, from pelvic floor dysfunction to urinary incontinence. As a low impact form of exercise, Pilates offers the perfect solution to keep you fit and well throughout your pregnancy and beyond. It can be adapted to meet the needs of each stage of your pregnancy, helping you strengthen your core and pelvic floor muscles, without adding stress to the joints and back.
During pregnancy, the abdominal muscles stretch and widen to make room for the baby, often causing diastasis recti (a thinning of the linea alba between the rectus abdominis and transversus abdominus). In many cases, this will heal post-pregnancy but can sometimes cause problems like urinary incontinence and lower back pain in some new moms. Pilates strengthens the deepest abdominal muscles, called the transversus abdominus, to help re-establish the core’s function and support the lower back. It also helps to improve the connection between breath and pelvic floor activation, which can help reduce the risk of diastasis recti after childbirth.
pregancy Pilates East Sheen is also great for preparing your body for labour and birth. The breathing techniques encouraged in Pilates (similar to the Lamaze breathing used during childbirth) can calm the nervous system, reduce blood pressure and lower the chance of pre-eclampsia. It can also build strength in the low spine and obliques safely to mitigate back pain and improve posture. By strengthening the obliques and pelvic floor, you can support your lower back more effectively which helps to reduce the rate of C-sections and episiotomies in childbirth.
Can Pregnancy Pilates in East Sheen help with postnatal recovery?
Once you’re past the six week postnatal check, your doctor will probably advise you to return to class-based exercise. But, before you do, it’s important to have a postnatal check with a Pelvic Health Physiotherapist or a Mummy MOT assessment to get more bespoke guidance, and make sure your pelvic floor and core are healing well.
A trained Postnatal Pilates teacher will be able to offer you exercises that will help re-train and reconnect your mind and body, and to help your body recover from the physical demands of childbirth. Depending on your experience, your instructor can also guide you through the best way to return to Pilates once your body is ready.
In the meantime, there are some basic Pilates exercises that you can start straight after giving birth if your GP gives you the go ahead, such as pelvic floor activation and breathing awareness and deep core activation (plus gentle stretches). This will help to improve the quality of your posture and give you skills to carry with you for life, even when you’re not exercising.
Having a baby changes everything, and your body changes in ways you never imagined. But with the right advice, and the support of a qualified instructor, you can use Pilates to help your body recover faster and better.