Its been a while since I wanted to share my personal experience of dealing with post pregnancy back pain and finally I decided to share my experience .Post Natal Back pain has been a trouble to 90% of the moms and its been their reason of being afraid to exercises too soon or take up fitness like before their pre preganacy days.
Its a beautiful feeling to have your baby finally in your arms but , its a difficult time immediately post pregnancy. there is no day and night schedule for the first 40 days ( like they say in traditional Indian words to which I totally agree), you need to recover out of the birthing experience yourself, you need to get to know your baby more (no doubt your partner and family support is always there) but still its a different experience.
For me, it was a C-section or a planned delivery and I started experiencing back pain second day post delivery. it was really difficult to turn sides, get up from the lying down position. if I got up from the chair, I would be bent for a while and then gradually straighten up. once I lied down after feeding my baby in sitting position, even lying down flat would be uncomfortable. somewhere it struck me that the earlier the measures are taken to solve the back pain, the better will be the recovery.
I started my back care after getting discharged from the hospital, at home basically. I started hot compress initially, atleast 3-4 times a day. there where medications to deal with the pain for the first 10 days as well. I did not follow any exercises for the first 2 days in the hospital.
As soon as my baby delivered on the 3 rd day , I started with this simple exercise to activate lower back muscles along with pelvic floor muscle training along with hot compress and started to feed my baby in sitting position most of the times.
Its very important to take a good back support while feeding the baby and avoid slouching as it aggravates the lower back pain.
At this point every time, I sat for nursing , I would ensure there is sufficient back support and i’m not sitting uncomfortably in a wrong posture to feed. it the most important thing to follow till u continue feeding your baby.
At 2 weeks, I started with these lower back = beginner level rehab exercises. These worked fantastically to activate my lower back muscles. I would do the following exercises everyday in the morning post a traditional Indian massage along with PFM’S each for 10 repetitions daily for the next 2 weeks.
At 4 weeks, I started with Mckenzie back extensions, supine bridges, level 0 and Level 1 core muscle exercise along with 20 min leisure walks daily to add on the previous program. I continued taking hot compress at least twice in a day.
As a traditional Indian measure, I had also started massage with a local masseur, which helped relax the back every day. I also had a few diet changes to support my recovery which were majorly traditional Indian measures.
Normally most informative websites will advice to start exercising only after 8 weeks of pregnancy. but the latest research says otherwise, the earlier you start doing easy and low key exercises the faster you will recover from back pain due to pregnancy
At 8 weeks, I was doing half an hour walks daily along withe these core strengthening for lower back exercises.
Currently I occasionally experience back pain, to be frank, sometimes it is not possible to keep the schedule as i’m still learning the art of multitasking with baby, work and house responsibilities, all in one hand.
I think what really helped me is all the activity during my pre natal time. being active, to not stop working or not to be adviced bed rest, to do squats during pregnancy were few things helped me get back to fitness faster.
currently i’m following this core stability program which is based on Pilates school of thought to keep my lower back strong. Check it out !!
If you have faced a similar problem do contact me at [email protected], I maybe able help you out.
PS:- share this article and follow the blog post for further updates on regaining my fitness post pregnancy.
