As any mother will admit, pregnancy places tremendous strain on the body. On average, women gain around 30 pounds during pregnancy, resulting in a big postural change. It can be incredibly laborious to carry all that extra weight around, not to mention extremely exhausting for the body. Some of our leading osteopaths have offered some tips and exercises that you can do, even before going into labour, in order to assuage the physical burdens of pregnancy.
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Work-out sessions: It is great to have a regular work-out routine when you are pregnant, but it is important that you adjust your routine accordingly depending on how much your body can take during pregnancy. We recommend doing three or four work-out sessions a week of approximately 30-minutes each during your first and second trimesters. When it comes to your third trimester, shorten your routine by 10 minutes so as to accommodate your heavier belly.
Types of Exercises: While cardio exercises are often very good, during pregnancy we advise you to stick to activities that control your heart-rate to 145 bpm - while still allowing you to break out it sweat. Squats Osteopathie München and lunges (without weights) are excellent for doing this, as are swimming and brisk-walking. Swimming is especially helpful during your last trimester, because the water supports your weight nicely, which takes the pressure off your exhausted muscles. Activities such as gentle aerobics and cycling are also highly recommended. Also be sure to do very short stretches before and after each work-out to get the flood flowing through your joints and muscles.
Movements/Exercises to Avoid: It is best to abstain from partaking in high-impact and contact sports, such as squash or football. When warming up, do not hold a stretch for longer than 5-6 seconds. If you hold a stretch too long when pregnant and vulnerable, your body release a hormone known as 'relax' which (while necessary for going into labour), when released prematurely, can damage the areas around the joints. Additionally, avoid overexerting yourself - this means that you should refrain from lifting heavy objects.
Dietary tips: An order for you and your baby to feel at your best throughout pregnancy, a well-balanced diet is a must. A pregnant woman requires approximately 2500 calories a day - so just because you are feeding both yourself and your baby does not mean that you eat twice as much as you normally would. To get the proper amounts of energy and nutrition, make sure you eat something from each food group every day: whole grains and wheat, fruits and vegetables, meat and poultry (your protein source), and dairy products.
Visit an Osteopath: In order to keep a close watch on the changes your body is going through, start seeing an osteopathic doctor early on in the first trimester. This way, if you are doing your exercises incorrectly, or if certain muscles are under too much strain, we can step in sooner than later.
With backaches, mood swings, and exhaustion threatening to overwhelm you, pregnancy is no easy process. However, with the help of an osteopath and the techniques above, hopefully your passage from pregnant woman to loving mother will not only be bearable, but enjoyable.
There are many ways on how to relieve pain. Of course, no one would like to live in pain. Most of the time, you would not want surgery to be an option. Also, popping pills along with the different types of medication may not always be the best course of treatment. So what then is the best way on how to manage pain?
Osteopathic Medicine - A Holistic Approach To Pain
Today, osteopathic medicine is becoming one of the most efficient ways on how to treat pain, most especially chronic pain. As opposed to the conventional medicine that will solely rely on pain pills or perhaps invasive surgery, osteopathic pain management will make use of a wide range of natural techniques. And this will include craniosacral rhythm, exercise therapy, therapeutic ultrasound, muscle contraction and stretching, myofascial release, and a host of other manipulative treatments.
You must be aware that the key to osteopathic medicine is its underlying philosophy, which is actually based on 4 tenets - that the individual is a unit of mind, body and spirit; that the body is very much capable of health maintenance, self-healing, and self-regulation; that its structure as well as function are interrelated; and that the most logical treatment to certain illnesses would be to fully understand the above-mentioned principles.
How It Works?
Managing pain through osteopathy will mean treating the whole body, not only the symptoms. Furthermore, it will work on the musculoskeletal system as key to your recovery as well as overall health. It will not just address the physiological aspects of your pain; rather, it looks to the psychosocial aspects and identifies bodily dysfunction. Indeed, when this is combined with osteopathic philosophy, your osteopath will be capable of delivering a well-rounded as well as efficient treatment to whatever kind of pain you are currently experiencing.
Most health experts will say that osteopathy is a very effective and safe way of treating chronic pain. Its goal is not to remove pain but to restore function of the structure and systems of your body. In turn, this will allow your body to heal itself. You must know that in doing so, the pain issues will be resolved, and you might even boost the efficient use of your body.
You must be aware that this kind of therapy will treat neck and back pains, joint injuries, migraines, sports injuries, and arthritis. Also, it can be used to treat pre- and post-natal problems. There are indeed a couple of studies showing that this kind of therapy provided favorable results to most patients and subjects. With that said, the next time you experience low back pain or perhaps migraine, considering calling or booking an appointment with a reliable osteopath.