Physical exercise: Pregnant women (I)

Many women don't want to do physical exercise during pregnancy because they don't know how to perform it and its benefits.

We have to take into account that during this period women's body experiences many changes such as hemathological changes, cardiorespiratory changes, metabolical changes and structural changes. As an example Table 1 shows the evolution of the weight gain during pregnancy.

Therefore, we have to be careful prescribing and doing physical exercise and being aware of cientific literature about this respect.

So, which consideration do we have to take into account in this population? The first thing we have to do is to know the time of pregnancy, because depending on it we will prescribe some exercises or others. For example,  when the woman is in the first quarter of pregnancy ( 12 weeks) she can do exercise in lying on her back (supine position), however from this first quarter on she musn't do it because of the weight of the uterus; it compresses the inferior vena cava (IVC) which decreases venous return to the heart (Wells,1992; Wo lfe, Ohtake, Mottola & McGrath, 1989).

Secondly we have to be careful with the choosing of the exercises. As I said above, structural changes take place during pregnancy like an increase of cervical lordosis and scapullar adduction. The increase of the lumbar lordosis may be caused by the compensation of the gravity center produced by uterine growth (De Miguel & Sánchez, 1993).

We will continue writing about this issue in the next posts.

For any question, don't hesitate asking us. We will be glad to help you out with any doubt you have.

Thanks for reading.

Carballo, R. B. (2000) Ejercicio físico durante el embarazo. Programas de actividad física en gestantes.Educación corporal & salud: Gestación, infancia & adolescencia, 65.

De Miguel, J. & Sánchez, M. (1993). Cambios fisiológicos y adaptación materna durante el embarazo. En Sociedad Española de Ginecología & Obstetricia, Grupo de trabajo sobre asistencia al embarazo normal, Sección de Medicina Perinatal, Manual de asistencia al embarazo normal: Cap. 4. Madrid: Fabre González.

Wells, C. (1992). El ejercicio durante el embarazo. En Mujeres, deporte & rendimiento (Perspectiva fisiológica): Vol. 1.Cap. 9. Barcelona: Editorial Paidotribo.

Wolfe, L., Ohtake, P., Mottola, M. & Mcgrath, M. (1989). Physiological interactions between pregnancy and aerobic exercise. Exercise and Sport Sciences Reviews,  17, 295351.