Why Are You Doing THAT Exercise??

Have you ever looked at your fitness routine and asked yourself, why am I doing this exercise. There is one exercise that is prevalent in most pregnancy fitness routines and I hate it. It follows the fitness pregnancy guidelines so it must be safe, right. Yes it is safe, but is it relevant. The shoulder dumbbell lateral raise, this is great because all pregnant women want ripped shoulder and big delts-haahaahaa. I view this exercise as a routine filler, in actual fact due to breast enlargement causing tight pectoral muscles your shoulder rotator cuff muscles become weak and over stretched. Performing a shoulder lateral raise for your deltoid muscles will inhibit the use of your rotator cuff muscles even further. So what, what do this mean to you, well you still have nice shoulders-rotator cuff weakness can lead to neck and shoulder pain, headaches and is the beginning of shoulder dysfunction.

So if you are performing a dumbbell shoulder lateral raise during your pregnancy, please stop and substitute this with shoulder rotations.

example of wall shoulder rotation to help you keep neutral spine

Pregnancy Posture-Interview

I am conducting an ongoing interview with pregnancy posture expert Dr. Erica Ainswoth. Dr. A. is a personal trainer and has a successful chiropractic practise in Toronto. Stay tuned for more posts. Please direct any questions through the comments section of this blog and I will address them.

I will be off the computer for a week, enjoy this first edition of an ongoing interview with Dr. Ainsworth.

Interview PREGNANCY POSTURE

Question-BabyBumpFit- Hi Erica, please to have you here. Let's start talking about pregnancy posture. Can you give us a brief description of it and what are the most common issues you see related to this?

Answer- by Dr. A
As any pregnant woman will tell you - your body changes in many ways throughout pregnancy. Your posture is not an exception. With the added weight gain and loosening of the ligaments the natural curves of the spine are accentuated.

What do these changes look like? - a sway back position is common where the low back is more arched than usual and the feet are turned out (pregnancy "waddle"). Other common changes include rounding of the upper back and shoulders with the head poked forward. These changes are necessary to make room for the baby however, they can also cause strain on the joints, ligaments and muscles in the body. Not surprisingly, the neck, mid and lower back are also the areas that I see the most injured pre and post natally.


. HORMONAL – Increase ligament laxity due to the release of relaxin. The hormone peaks in the first trimester. Relaxin promotes widening and increased flexibility of the pelvic joints (symphysis pubis in the front and the sacro-iliac joint in the back of the pelvis) which help to facilitate delivery. The increased flexibility also allows joints to misalign more easily.
· BIOMECHANICAL – Postural changes result from an increased weight gain causing the center of gravity to shift forward. The spine alters itself to accommodate this change causing strain on the joints, ligaments and muscles (Ie: pelvis tips forward, sway back, pelvis flares outward)
· WEAK ABDOMINAL MUSCLES
· BIOMECHANICAL – The mid-back and neck compensate for the postural changes in the low back and pelvis (Ie: rounding of the upper back and shoulders, and a forward head position with loss of curvature in the neck)
· POOR POSTURAL HABITS – Increased breast size results in the shoulders rolling forwards

BabyBumpFit- Thanks Erica, great start to our ongoing interview series. Dr.A can be reached at drainsworth@theurbanathlete.ca .