Pregnancy can also be a time when aches and pains make you feel very uncomfortable, particularly the back. Here are some hints and tips on how to look after your back in pregnancy. And remember the team of therapists here at Bramhall Osteopathic Practice have many years of experience in treating pregnancy related aches and pains. Call us on 0161 440 0298 and let’s see if we can help to keep your pregnancy as comfortable as possible.
How you sit and use your body can affect the position of your baby in the uterus. While this does not matter so much during early pregnancy, later on it can affect the position that the baby moves into in the pelvis, prior to labour starting.
When you regularly sit for a long time or sit in a slouching type of position and your pelvis rocks backwards, this encourages your baby to enter the pelvis in a “posterior” position as their back, the heaviest part of them, is more likely to be positioned against your back. This can make having your baby harder and labour longer.
In the past, women used to spend a lot more time being upright and moving around than we tend to do now They used to scrub floors and spend more time on their hands and knees than we need to now and this allowed more room for the baby to move around in, and encouraged the baby to move into the right position in the pelvis.
Midwives suggest using the hands and knees position during your pregnancy, especially in the later stages from 25 weeks onwards, but particularly the last 6 weeks, to encourage your baby to be in the right position for labour. When you are sitting, you should sit “on your sit bones”, the two bony points under the cheeks of your bottom, rather than letting your pelvis rock backwards so that you sit on your tailbone. This will help your pelvis to be in a forward leaning position, which encourages your baby to move into the right position.
During your pregnancy try and keep as active as you can, gentle walks are great as is swimming, as the water helps to support the growing bump.
Try using a birthing ball – sitting on a birthing ball is also a better option than sitting on a chair for long periods, providing you choose one at the right height for you. Your hips and knees should be around 90 degrees when you are sitting upright. You can then lean forwards slightly while you are sitting on it, and move it around under you too, to allow you to change position slightly as needed, especially if you need to sit for any length of time.
If you have any worries or concerns, please call us on 0161 440 0298 and lets see if we can help to keep your pregnancy as comfortable as possible.
