Manage your daily activities with pregnancy pain home exercises to remain as active and mobile as possible without aggravating your pain.
Daily activities
Avoid pushing through any pain, if it hurts STOP. Pace activities. Rest regularly & allow extra time so your are not rushing
Walking
- Take smaller steps
- Slow pace
- Under 30minutes duration, may need to rest half way
- If still painful change exercise to non-weightbearing, eg.water walking
Stairs
- Slow pace, one at a time
- Side step holding onto a rail
- Sit to stand
- Move forward to the edge of chair, keep legs parallel, lean forward at hips and push up into standing
Car – open door wide, turn body and bring both legs out, move forward lean body forward and push up into
- standing
- Sitting
- Sit with support behind behind back and relax into support, avoid slumping by using a lumbar roll placed in lower back (eg, sofa & baths)
Office chair – As you grow allow for this at work by a slight angle down or sitting on a wedge shaped pillow with back support
- Have mini breaks, have a little walk every 30 minutes
- Lifting
- Tighten pelvic floor, bend knees and then push up through legs
AVOID
- Heavy lifting (eg, encourage independence of children – into carseat, supermarket trolleys, shopping bags etc)
- Standing on one leg – sit to get dressed
- Vacuuming
- Crossing your legs
- Squatting activities
- Gardening
- Twisting activities
- Keep legs close together during intercourse
- Sleeping
Getting into bed;
- Sitting on the edge of bed gentle drop into a side lying
- position while bringing legs up to the side simultaneously.
Positions;
- Side lying with a pillow between your knees, under your bump and behind back
- Sidelying bottom leg straight and top leg bent up and supported by pillows. If you want slightly roll toward face down, allow room for stomach to sit to the side.
- Semi-reclined, use pillows behind back to prop yourself up
- Prior to 20weeks: lying on your back with pillows under your knees
Turning in bed;
- Bend up knees, activate pelvic floor and buttock, push through your legs to shift your bottom to one side, keeping legs together roll to your side.
Getting out of bed;
- Use buttock shuffle as above to move close to edge of bed, turn onto your side facing edge, drop your legs down as you push up with your arms
- Listen to your body