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| Home > Exercises and Comfort > Posture and Movement
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| | Posture and Movement during pregnancy
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You can improve your posture by standing as tall as possible and by keeping your chin level. Imagine a string attached to the crown of your head, pulling it towards the ceiling. The alignment of the body is maintained if your head is held high. Your shoulders should be relaxed, your abdominal muscles should be firm. This will assist to straighten your spine. Your back should be slightly curved and your buttocks tucked in. You should relax your knees and your feet should support your body weight equally. The heel and ball of each foot should support the weight of your body.
Poor posture is the root cause of backache. Poor posture causes your abdominal muscles to relax, the curve of your back is lengthened which pressurizes the small mus-cles of your low back which are striving to maintain your balance and alignment. This continual shortening and tightening of these back muscles creates low back pain.
The growth of the fetus in the uterus alters your center of gravity. To avoid accidents and specially to maintain a good posture, you must exer-cise for toning up and strengthening your abdominal muscles. You should wear flat or low shoes during these days.
Standing:
 It is recommended that you avoid standing for a long duration during late pregnancy. The blood flow from your legs to your heart is inhibited by standing which will lead to light headedness. If it cannot be avoided, you must use your leg muscles to stimulate the blood flow back to your heart from your legs. The weight of your body should be shifted from one let to the other. You should ro-tate your ankles in small circles, and rock back and forth from your toes to your heels. Be fidgety - do not stand still in one spot. To help prevent backache while standing, put one foot on a low stool or on a slightly elevated place. This helps flatten your back and reduces the strain on your low back muscles.
Sitting
 Prolonged sitting, like standing impairs the return of blood from your legs during late pregnancy. You can improve circulation in your legs while sit-ting by not crossing your legs at the knees and also by frequently moving and rotating your feet at the ankles. Sitting with your feet up with support to the calves is also a restful and beneficial position. If you are on a long car trip, break your journey every hour to get out and move around. When inside the vehicle, change your position frequently and do not forget to stretch your legs. You must not forget to wear your seat belt. Place the lap belt over your lower abdomen, below the bulge of your uterus. Always wear the shoulder belt.
A straight-back chair will be more comfortable than a low, deep one, as you have an enlarged uterus. Place a small, firm pil-low in the small of your back and keep your feet on a low stool. To get up from your resting position, move to the edge of the chair and then use your leg muscles to raise your body. This will prevent back strain.
Lifting
To avoid injury, you should not lift heavy objects, since joints and ligaments are softened and relaxed during pregnancy. As long as you do it properly, you can safely lift light objects.
The thigh muscles are much stronger than the muscles in the lower back. Use the strong thigh muscles instead of the short, weaker muscles of your lower back to pick up an object. This you can achieve by bending at the knees when lift-ing an object and never bending at the waist while lifting. Follow these rules when you pick anything up, even a piece of paper:
Get as close to the object as possible. Keep your feet wide apart, toes pointing out. (Feet can be parallel or one foot can be ahead of the other.)
Bend both knees (squat), keeping your back straight.
Grasp the object firmly, and hold it close to your body. Avoid twisting at your waist.
To avoid strain on your perineum, contract your pelvic floor muscles and do not hold your breath as you rise.
Stand up by straightening your legs. Remember to keep your back straight.
Lying Down
 A simple task like lying down comfortably becomes increasingly difficult as your pregnancy progresses. Use pillows to make yourself comfortable. If you want to lie on your side, put a pillow be-tween your knees and a pillow under your head. Rest your arms and legs on the bed (or on the floor) rather than on other parts of your body. It is more relaxing.
If there is a rise in your blood pressure, you will be told by your physician to rest on your side than on your back. Better to lie on your left side because it helps in placental circulation and heart function.
Lying on your side is more comfortable if you lie more toward your front. While lying on your left side, put your left arm behind you. Keep your left leg straight and bend your right leg and rest it on a hard, fat pil-low. Bend your right arm to bring it towards your face. You will need only a flat pillow for your head.
During the latter days of pregnancy, some women may experience heartburn or shortness of breath while lying down. If it happens, you should adopt a semi-sitting position by propping yourself up with pillows or raising the head of the bed by a few inches. It will help to reduce the discomfort.
In late pregnancy you should avoid lying flat on your back (the supine position) as your heavy uterus may press on the large abdom-inal vein (the vena cava), reducing the blood flow from the lower body to the heart, thereby lowering your blood pressure. This condition, called supine hypoten-sion, can restrict the flow of blood to the placenta, thereby decreasing the oxygen supply to the baby, which slows down the fetal heart rate. If you experience dizziness or light-headedness when lying on your back, you can conclude that the fetal oxygen supply may be reduced. This condition can easily be rectified by rolling over to your side or sitting up. It is prudent to stay off your back while lying still. Some of the exercises that we will recommend for your comfort during pregnancy are done while lying on your back. Supine hypotension is not a problem under these cir-cumstances, since the exercises them-selves shift the weight of the uterus. Do not remain on your back after exercis-ing-roll to one side or sit up.
Getting Up
As pregnancy progresses, getting up from the floor or out of bed becomes more difficult. The jackknife style of get-ting up (sitting up with a sudden jerk) may strain your abdominal and low back mus-cles. You must get up the proper way.
You must roll onto your side and bend your hips and knees.
Using your arms, push up to a sitting position
To get up from the floor, get on your hands and knees. Place one foot on the floor in front of you and keep the other knee on the floor. Use your leg muscles to stand up Use your knee or another object for balance.
To get out of bed, put your legs over the side of the bed, then push yourself to a sitting position and stand up.
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