Back pain is one of the most common musculoskeletal complaints during pregnancy. As your baby grows, your center of gravity shifts, your abdominal muscles lengthen, and your joints become more mobile due to hormonal changes. All of these changes can place additional stress on your spine and surrounding muscles.
While it’s tempting to focus only on stretching when your back hurts, maintaining a healthy back during pregnancy requires a combination of mobility, strength, and core stability. The following five exercises can help support your changing body while preparing you for the physical demands of pregnancy and motherhood.
1. Squats
Squats are one of the most functional exercises you can perform during pregnancy because they strengthen the muscles you’ll rely on every day.
Whether you’re standing up from a chair, getting off the toilet, picking something up from the floor, or eventually caring for your newborn, you’re performing a squat.
Squats strengthen the glutes, quadriceps, hips, and core while promoting good movement mechanics. Building strength in these muscles helps support your pelvis and spine as your pregnancy progresses.
Tip: As you stand, gently exhale while engaging your core to help manage pressure through your abdomen and pelvic floor.
2. Pallof Press
Core strengthening during pregnancy doesn’t have to involve crunches or traditional abdominal exercises.
The Pallof Press is an anti-rotation exercise that teaches your deep core muscles to stabilize your spine while resisting movement. As your baby grows and your body is pulled forward, these stabilizing muscles work harder to support your posture and protect your back.
By strengthening your core in a functional way, the Pallof Press helps improve trunk stability while preparing your body for the everyday lifting, carrying, and movement required during pregnancy and postpartum.
3. Physioball Hip Circles
As pregnancy progresses, many women experience stiffness through their hips, pelvis, and low back. Gentle movement on a stability ball can help relieve tension while encouraging mobility throughout the pelvis.
Hip circles performed on a physioball promote gentle pelvic movement, improve hip mobility, and may help decrease feelings of stiffness after prolonged sitting or standing. Many women also find this exercise relaxing later in pregnancy.
This is an excellent exercise to incorporate throughout pregnancy because it is gentle, comfortable, and easily modified as your body changes.
4. Cat-Cow
Cat-Cow is a simple mobility exercise that encourages movement throughout the spine while promoting diaphragmatic breathing.
During pregnancy, many women spend more time in an extended posture due to their growing abdomen. Cat-Cow allows the spine to move through a comfortable range of motion, helping reduce stiffness in the back while improving mobility through the ribs and pelvis.
Coordinating your breathing with the movement can also encourage relaxation and improve overall body awareness.
5. Open Books
As your baby grows, rotation through your trunk naturally becomes more limited. Combined with the postural changes of pregnancy, this can lead to increased stiffness through the upper back and rib cage.
Open Books help restore thoracic mobility while encouraging gentle rotation through the upper body. Improving mobility in this region may reduce tension in the neck, shoulders, and upper back while promoting better posture.
Maintaining mobility throughout your upper body becomes especially important as your pregnancy progresses and later while feeding, holding, and carrying your baby.
Conclusion
Keeping your back healthy during pregnancy isn’t about stretching alone. A combination of mobility, strength, and core stability provides the support your changing body needs throughout each trimester.
Incorporating exercises like squats, physioball hip circles, Cat-Cow, Open Books, and the Pallof Press into your routine can help improve posture, reduce stiffness, and build the strength needed to support both your pregnancy and the transition into motherhood.
If you’re experiencing persistent back pain, pelvic pain, or difficulty staying active during pregnancy, working with a pelvic floor physical therapist can help identify the underlying cause and create an individualized treatment plan that supports both you and your growing baby.
Looking to optimize your well being with pelvic floor physical therapy? Reach out to us at Pelvic Health Center in Madison, NJ to set up an evaluation and treatment! Feel free to call us at 908-443-9880 or email us at [email protected]. We are in-network with several insurance plans and can help you confirm your benefits before your evaluation.