Pregnancy “prehab” will help prepare you for the big day.
Pregnancy is full of little excitements: decorating the new baby’s room, picking out baby clothes, and scrolling through name websites. But it also comes saddled with plenty of aches and pains–not to mention anxiety about the birth itself! Fortunately, the experts at Beyond Therapy and Wellness in Bedford can help make your pregnancy–and the delivery–a piece of cake.
You’ve probably heard the term “rehab.” It’s short for rehabilitation, and most people associate it with recovery from injury or surgery. But there’s also “prehab:” a form of rehabilitation that takes place before a physically demanding event. And giving birth will definitely be physically demanding!
At Beyond Therapy and Wellness, we offer extensive physical therapy treatments for expectant mothers. These treatments can help soothe the physical difficulties of the pregnancy itself, but more importantly, they can get you ready for actually birthing your baby. Schedule an appointment with Beyond Therapy and Wellness in Bedford and learn more about our pregnancy prehab program!
How Pregnancy Affects Your Body
Pregnancy is not easy on the body. Growing a baby takes energy, for one thing. But the other reason pregnancy can be difficult is that it physically changes your body. Your entire musculoskeletal system is shaping itself to accommodate the growing baby and prepare for the eventual birth.
These physical changes include loosening the ligaments, changes in your spine and center of gravity, weight gain, and more. The result for many women is a slew of unpleasant side effects. One of the most common is persistent pain in the joint, particularly in the lower back. Some women also have difficulty adjusting their posture to their new body shape. And that’s not even getting into the many hormonal and emotional changes your body is going through!
All of these changes are gearing up for the big day: your baby’s birth. But with increased pain and decreased physical activity, your body may not be quite as ready for delivery as you would hope. However, a prenatal rehabilitation program at Beyond Therapy and Wellness can help physically prepare you for birth.
How prenatal rehabilitation can get you ready for delivery
The goal of pregnancy prehab is two-fold: one, we want to make sure you’re prepared for the physical taxation of birth. But two, we want to ensure your postpartum recovery goes as smoothly as possible.
Two significant aspects of prenatal rehabilitation are pain management and physical activity. Many expectant mothers find that they exercise less than before they were pregnant, usually due to a combination of back pain, stress, fatigue, or simply being too busy.
At Beyond Therapy and Wellness, we offer several drug-free pain management techniques to help make physical activity a little easier. These include approaches like manual therapy, cryotherapy, or heat therapy.
However, gentle exercise is one of the best ways to combat the pain of pregnancy, so we’ll also work with you to develop a customized exercise program to get you moving. Workouts like water aerobics, walking, or gentle yoga will go a long way toward getting you physically fit for your baby’s birth.
But pregnancy prehab is also about getting a head start on your postpartum recovery. Exercise is a major contributor–studies show that even light exercise during pregnancy can help with recovery efforts. Why? Because by exercising now, you’re helping to retrain your muscles back to their pre-pregnant state.
Our therapists can also provide exercises designed to strengthen and stretch your core and pelvic floor–the primary muscle group responsible for delivering your baby. We’ll get you started with exercises designed to safely strengthen those important muscles.
What to expect at your Beyond Therapy and Wellness Prehab appointments
We’ll start with a thorough physical assessment and health history, which will help us better understand your specific needs and requirements. Specifically, we’ll look at your overall mobility, range of motion, and posture. We’ll also spend some time looking at specific areas that may be causing you pain.
From there, we’ll work with you to develop a personalized prehab program to alleviate prenatal pain, increase physical activity, and prepare your body for birth. At subsequent appointments, we’ll walk you through specific exercises, measure your progress, and set you up for at-home training!
Schedule your prenatal appointment today!
Pregnancy is tough, but the experts at Beyond Therapy and Wellness in Bedford are here to help make it a little easier. Schedule an appointment with us today and get a head start on an easier delivery and a faster postpartum recovery!
