Brittany Robles, OBGYN, and a NASM certified personal trainer
The postpartum is such an important time for you to take care of yourself. ACOG, (the American College of OBGYN) recommends that every woman should get at least 150 minutes of aerobic exercise per week.
Once you have a green signal from your specialist, go ahead and begin.
Stretches to Prevent Hip & Back pain
while you are busy taking care of the little one and recovering through postpartum period.
Inner Thigh/Groin:
Side Lying Adduction Lift
This exercise will effectively target your inner thigh from a lying position. It is great for improving the stability of your pelvis.
To do this exercise,
- Lie on your side, propped up on your elbow and forearm.
- Now you will need to bend your top leg over your other leg, which you will keep extended from here, lift the bottom leg off the floor while keeping the knee straight.
- At the top, hold the position for 2-3 seconds before lowering it back down.
Make sure to train both sides equally.
Glutes:
Glute Bridge
The glute bridge is a great exercise to activate your butt muscles (which get weak during pregnancy) and it also helps to stabilize your core.
To do this exercise,
- lie on your back with bent knees, feet flat on the floor.
- Now, squeeze your glutes hard enough that you can extend your hips as much as possible.
- It is important that your spine remains neutral and does not arch.
Hold this position for 2-3 seconds at the top and slowly lower back down.
Posterior Pelvic Tilt
The pelvic tilt is one of the best exercises to help realign your hips and strengthen your core. During pregnancy, many women suffer from anterior pelvic tilt due to the gravid uterus. This puts your hips in a suboptimal position. The posterior pelvic tilt will strengthen your rectus abdominis and transverse abdominis muscles to bring your hips back into a natural position.
- To start, lay on your back with your knees bent and feet flat on the floor.
- Next, push your belly button down towards the floor to flatten out your lower back. This will naturally tilt your pelvis posteriorly.
- Hold this position for a three count and slowly return to your starting position.
Cat to Cow
The cat to cow is another great exercise to improve the mobility of your spine from a safe position.
- Get onto your hands and knees, also known as the quadruped position. Now you will alternate between the cat (rounded back) and cow (arched back).
- To arch your back, take a deep breath in and hold for one second. Now you will exhale by rounding your back. Again, hold this position for one second.
- You should move slowly between the two positions and pay attention to your breathing. This should feel very natural.
Outer Hips/Glutes:
Banded Walks
The banded walk will require a short resistance band that you can get online or from sporting stores. This exercise is great at strengthening the glutes, outer thighs, which can help stabilize your hips.
To do this exercise,
- Place the band around your knees and get into a quarter squat position.
- Keep your feet pointing forward and begin walking to one side. You should try to take about 6-8 steps going one way and then 6-8 steps going the other way.
- To make this exercise even more challenging, add in a squat after each step!
Take care and Stay Strong.
Contributing Author Bio:
Brittany Robles. is an OBGYN, and a NASM certified personal trainer. She runs a pregnancy & postpartum health and fitness site called PostpartumTrainer.com, and it has been featured on Healthline, The Bump, Romper, and Shape.