Last night I came across this New York Times blog post How Pregnancy Changes a Runner's Body, which covers a study on how pregnancy affects the woman's ability to move while running due to biomechanical changes. Studying a pregnant woman while running they could see how the woman's pelvis began tilting forward as her pregnancy progressed. A very important aspect was that much of this tilt still remained when they let her run six months postpartum. Also, they could see that she was displaying more side-to-side pelvic motion while running than she had did when they watched her run being six months pregnant. Another woman in the study was a mother of two who was being examined 14 months postpartum. She had reported hip and low back pain when running. While running on the treadmill they could see that her pelvis tilted forward far too much, and that her pelvis moved too much from side to side. This led to a situation where her pelvis was still unstable a year after her second pregnancy. This also led to - at least to some extent - that one of her legs struck the ground harder than the other. The doctor conducting the study pretty much said that this was expected since pregnancy and childbirth stretch the muscles and connective tissue in the abdomen which allows the pelvis to tilt and sway. Then it was concluded that a woman needs to strengthen those muscles after pregnancy. If not the tissue will remained stretched. Now, how do you do this, according to the doctor? Well, not by doing crunches - which I repeatedly state here on the blog - to activate the muscles deep within the abdomen the doctor suggests doing multiple movements where the belly is pulled up and in (which is in accordance with the exercise regime in my Post-Pregnancy Belly Guide), combined with Kegels (as I understand him).
The doctor also suggests planking as a good exercise to help stabilize the pelvic area. As you probably know, I don't agree here. The plank is very challenging to the core and you shouldn't do it unless your post-pregnancy belly is fully recovered.
It's very satisfying that this topic, women's health during and after pregnancy, is getting attention. But I would also like to add that another evident and highly unpleasant effect of running after pregnancy without proper healing and strengthening of the abdomen and pelvic floor could be different kinds of pelvic organ prolapses. I am looking forward to the day when this very delicate topic is being brought out in the open considering the fact that so many women nowadays are running. I have written a little bit about this here:
HOW DOES RELAXIN AFFECT RECOVERY//Nicole Hellgren
