Be strong – the importance of core strength in pregnancy
Pregnant women have everything to gain from maintaining or increasing their strength while pregnant.
The most important aspect of strength is that relating to core stability and pelvic floor muscles. The core stability muscles are the deep abdominals (Transverse Abdominis) and deep spinal muscles (the Multifidus), which work together with the pelvic floor to provide internal support and stability for your torso. These muscles become even more important when pregnant to maintain a neutral spine (where the spine is not flexed, extended, twisted or tilted and is balanced around the central axis of gravity). A neutral spine position supports and protects the spine, maintains good posture and avoids many pregnancy-related problems such as back pain and ligament laxity.
All postures and exercises in your prenatal yoga class should begin with activation of these important core stability muscles.
And a bit more on pelvic floor:
Strong pelvic floor muscles facilitate birth and are less likely to tear than weak pelvic floor muscles. They will also help with a faster recovery from your birth and reduce the risk of prolapse. You need to be strengthening your pelvic floor muscles during pregnancy through repeated contractions of your pelvic floor muscles (these are sometimes called Kegels). How do to this is a big topic and needs its own blog (coming soon!) or come and learn more in our prenatal yoga class.
Rebecca Perry, Canberra
www.canberraprenatalyoga.com.au
