After the Baby: Where Did Your Get Up Go?

No sooner have you birthed your new little bundle, but there’s someone hollering in your ear to get off your duff and walk, walk, walk. Those are the same people who proffered advice during your pregnancy about eating right, not eating too much, and the need to continue exercising until the day you check yourself into the hospital. As far as I can tell, those people have never had morning sickness around the clock for four–yes, four–months! When the only things that would push the nausea back down to a bare-able queasiness for a little while were heaps of mashed potatoes (the dehydrated version work the best, by the way) and the saltiest saltines you could wrap your chubby, little, toxemic fingers around. Nor have they felt the back pressure and overall discomfort that comes at about 6.5 months.

Lots of people, especially those who have not had a baby themselves, will tell you that you need to get back to your regular exercise routine immediately after you’ve delivered. Speaking on behalf of my wife and many of my female patients, I will tell you that you need to give your body a chance to rest and recover from the most exhausting and traumatic ordeal it has ever (and probably will ever) go through. You also need to give your mind and body a chance to get used to around-the-clock feedings and caring for a brand new baby.

When you do begin exercising, be sure to check with your Obgyn to find out if you are physically ready. Any Obgyn worth her salt will tell you to take it slowly because your ligaments are still loose due to the hormones that flooded your body to enable your hips, pubic bone, and associated ligaments and muscles to expand enough to allow the birth to happen. Those loose ligaments are everywhere in your body (not just in your hip and pubic areas). You probably felt them when your knees sometimes hyper-extended while walking or when you stepped up onto a curb and felt a rubberiness from ankle to knee to hip that reminded you of the last time you stepped off of a fast-moving teacup ride. Loose ligaments (or “ligamentous laxity”, as it is called) can also cause instability in your back and (believe it or not) flattening of your feet. And if you leave them to heal on their own, you could be left with permanently flat feet, and a painful back out of alignment.

One thing is for sure, the longer it takes you to heal, the longer it will take you to lose those extra pounds and get back to being the strong, active woman you want to be.

So besides rest (when you can get it), what can you do to help your body heal faster and offset some the of the strange and unexpected side effects of pregnancy and birth?

Three Ways to Heal Faster and Get the Spring back in your In-Step If you want to speed the healing process, feel stronger and stand on your own two feet sooner, try these three things.

1. Sleep on a firm mattress and use a pillow that is just thick and pliable enough to support the natural ark in your neck - anything softer (in a mattress) of thicker (in a pillow) will put added pressure on your back and neck, and will slow healing of your ligaments and joints.

2. Where supportive footwear - until you lose the extra weight from pregnancy, the combination of extra weight and ligamentous laxity will continue to put pressure on the ligaments in your feet and may make flat feet a permanent state. Flat feet can lead to ongoing pain in knees, heels and balls of feet, and so on. So don’t let it go.

3. Visit a Structural Integration Rolf Practitioner - During the healing process for any musculoskeletal change (from displaced disc to post partum healing), it is important to make sure the body heals in a way that brings you back to the strong, upright person you were prior to the trauma. As your SI body-worker, I use body alignment techniques established by Ida Rolf (Ph.D.) in the 1950s and practiced for more than 50 years. I free restrictions in the pelvis caused by the trauma of birth. I slowly, ever-so-gently tip the back and spine into alignment. And I balance the arches of the feet and ease feet into alignment with knees and ankles.

All this together will lessen the burden on your weakened, lax ligaments and allow your body to heal itself. Before you know it you will be able exercise in ease and comfort. And those pregnancy pounds will begin to fall away.

About the Author - Joe Ackerman
I’m Joe Ackerman a Rolf Structural Integrator trained through the CORE Institute and owner of Core Structural Therapy. I am a professional member of the International Association Of Structural Integrators, and certified by the National Certification Board for Therapeutic Massage. and Bodywork Professionals. I have obtained several advanced certifications in Orthopedic Massage and Rolf Structural Integration.