High Maintenance Mom

Back pain is very common in pregnancy due to the weight your pregnant belly exerts on your lower back, especially in the last trimester. Many pregnant women experience a forward swaying posture as their bellies get bigger and abdominal muscles lengthen, while the lower back muscles tighten and contract, or shorten. Both your abdominal muscles and lower back muscles are trying to keep you balanced, but often due to a weakness in abdominal muscles the lower back has to compensate by working even harder - causing low back strain and muscle fatigue. Improving your posture, so that you maintain a neutral spine, can alleviate some if not most prenatal back pain, so be mindful to make it your daily prenatal practice!

1. Stand straight with soft, slightly bent knees with feet hip-width apart so your ankles are under your hipbones. Your weight should be evenly distributed under your entire foot.

2. Place your hands on your hips and slightly drop your tailbone downwards, keeping your bum relaxed (this is very important!). Think about being a mother kangaroo whose heavy tail keeps her tailbone dropped towards the ground.

3. Relax your shoulders back and down, away from your ears - almost as if you were squeezing your shoulder blades closer together. Lengthen your neck as you lift the top of your head away from your shoulders and tuck your chin slightly as you relax your neck.

4. Lastly, gently place one hand on your lower belly and gently contract your abdominal muscles without holding your breath (continue to breathe into your baby) and remember to relax your bottom.

A good exercise to relieve prenatal back pain is the cat stretch - starting on all fours while dropping your head and tucking your chin and simultaneously rounding your back over as you tuck your kangaroo tail in between your legs. Alternate between cat stretch and child's pose to relieve lower back strain.

In addition, you should be doing safe abdominal strengthening exercises (for example, through some prenatal Baby Boot Camp classes), which will help reduce the strain your lower back.

A final note, sometimes lower back pain can also be a sign of a diastasis recti, or separation in the abdominal muscles that can sometimes happen during pregnancy. Be sure to have your care provider check you for a diastasis, or just ask your friendly Baby Boot Camp instructor if she can check you next time you're in class during matwork exercises.

To drop in on a free prenatal or postnatal exercise class, contact denise.hontiveros@babybootcamp.com or visit www.babybootcamp.com