Exercise during pregnancy Essay

Pregnancy brings along a number of physiological, emotional and psychological changes for expectant mothers. Researchers, though they usually disagree on the intensity and type of physical activity or exercise that pregnant women should be involved in, agree that some form of exercise is useful for pregnant women. Poudevigne and O’Connor (2006) discuss several research which highlight the psychological problems that some pregnant women face and the challenges in dealing with them (4). Smith and Michel (2006) sought to determine the effect an aquatic exercise program would have on the pregnant mother. The researchers wanted to find out if participant’s would be more willing to participate in health-promoting activities and if there would be any improvement to physical discomfort and mobility problems (5) as a result of the aquatic exercise program. Forty non-exercising pregnant women who were at least 19 weeks pregnant were recruited. Participants opted to be in either the experimental or control group with each having 20 members. Over a six-week period the 20 members of the experimental group were involved in three weekly 60 minute sessions of aquatic exercise. The members of the control group were instructed to continue their usual non-exercising routine (5). The researchers did pre-and post-test comparisons as well as comparisons between the results of both control and experimental group. The results from these comparisons supported the researchers’ hypotheses that exposure to the exercise program would have a positive impact on participants’ involvement in other health-promoting activities. Similarly it was found that those involved in the exercise program experienced less physical discomfort and demonstrated improvements in their mobility and perceptions of their body image (5). I believe the findings reported by Poudevigne and O’Connor (2006) are quite useful for pregnant mothers who want to exercise but are worried about the type of exercises to perform. It appears that the aquatic exercises would be a welcome alternative to women than regular gym-type and strenuous exercises. It would be good if future research compared the effectiveness of these two types of exercises. Some researchers are not convinced that exercise alone can accomplish physical improvements for mothers, particularly during the advanced pregnancy stage. Depledge, McNair, Keal-Smith and Williams (2005) hypothesized that exercise with other supports could improve physical conditions. The research objective was to see if the conditions of pregnant women with symphysis pubis dysfunction, or pelvic joint pain, would improve with exercise and interventions such as advice and pelvic support belts. The researchers felt this study was essential given the increase in the number of pregnant women experiencing this condition. Methods that would diminish pelvic discomfort in pregnant women would therefore be quite useful in improving how well this condition is dealt with both by clinicians and the expectant mothers themselves (1). The participants in the research were randomly assigned to one of three groups. There was an exercise only group along with advice, a group that combined exercise with wearing a non-rigid support belt and the third group combined exercise with a rigid support belt. Participants were divided into each group relatively evenly – 30, 28 and 29 respectively. The intervention program lasted for a week and pre- and post- test analysis of level of discomfort and intensity of pelvic pain were recorded (1). The results of the research revealed that all three groups reported some amount of improvement in their pelvic pain over the period. However the variation between groups was not very significant (1). I found the results of this research to be particularly interesting since it suggests that the use of support belts does not result in any additional improvements over exercise. This demonstrates the extent to which exercise can improve the conditions of pregnant women, even those with considerable levels of pelvic pain due to symphsis pubis dysfunction. Often some mothers desiring to participate in exercise are confused by physician’s reports which suggest that exercise is unsafe for the expectant mothers because of the risk of maternal hypothermia (2) and an untimely or late delivery (3). In fact Poudevigne and O’Connor (2006) did a comprehensive review of research on the subject and discovered that a significant number of women, who were physically active before their pregnancy, demonstrated a decrease in these activities throughout their pregnancy (4). Larsson & Lindqvist (2005) tested the merits of this position in a study of 37 pregnant women participating in low-impact exercises (2). They discovered little risk to the pregnant women who revealed comparable core temperature, heart rate and oxygen saturation as compared to a control of 11. This suggests therefore, that the participants and, by extension, pregnant mothers at whatever stage of pregnancy, are at little risk of maternal hypothermia doing low-impact exercises (2). Similarly Leiferman and Evenson (2003) report in their study of close to 10, 000 mothers, that there was little or no risk that mothers would deliver their babies either pre- or post- term as the skeptics of exercise during pregnancy usually suggest (3). This information I find relieving for mothers who are concerned about the welfare of the fetus during exercise. Since there is little risk with low-impact exercises pregnant mothers should no longer have significant objections to exercise. Evidently research supports the view that exercise during pregnancy is harmful neither to the mother nor the unborn fetus. Exercise seems to be beneficial in relieving some of the discomforts faced by expecting mothers both of the physical and psychological nature. While there is no suggestion that exercise offers much further benefits over other interventions or a sedentary lifestyle, it has not been shown to be harmful.