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| Home > Exercises and Comfort > Safe effective exercises > Stretching
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| | Stretching during Pregnancy
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Stretching promotes flexibility and thus makes pregnancy and childbirth most comfortable. While stretching, always relax into the stretch. Stretch slowly and hold the stretch for thirty to sixty sec-onds.
Modified Tailor-Sitting
Aim: To prepare for childbirth. The muscles of the inner thighs get stretched and practice for relaxing the leg and pelvic floor muscles. Caution: Do not try this exercise if you feel pain in the area of the pubic bone.
Starting position: Sit on the floor with your knees bent and the soles of your bare feet together and as close to your body as is comfortable. Hold your feet with your hands.
Exercise: Lean forward from your hips and relax your legs. Allow the weight of your legs to stretch the inner thighs. Next, using the muscles of your outer thighs and buttocks, gently press your knees toward the floor.
Hamstring Stretch
Aim: The hamstring muscles are at the back of the thighs. This exercise stretches the hamstring muscles. It can also help relieve backache, relax the muscles of the inner thighs and pelvic floor. Do not bounce your knees or press down on them with your hands.
Starting position: Sit down tailor fashion. Ex-tend your left leg straight out, with your kneecap toward the ceiling and your an-kle relaxed.
Exercise: Reach slowly and gently toward your left foot with both hands. When you feel the stretch at the back of your thigh, hold that position for thirty to sixty sec-onds. Relax and sit up.
Repetition: Repeat two to three times. Then straighten the right leg and bend the left leg. Repeat two to three times stretch-ing toward the right foot.
Calf Stretch
Aim: To stretch the tendons and muscles of the calf and ankle.
Starting position: Stand two or three feet from a wall on your bare feet. Lean forward on the wall with the support of your palms. Place one foot about twelve inches in front of the other.
Exercise: Slowly and gently bend your front knee, balancing your weight onto the front leg. Hold your back straight, your buttocks tucked in, and your heels firmly placed on the floor. When you feel the stretch of the calf muscle in the rear leg, hold that posi-tion for thirty to sixty seconds. Then straighten and relax. Repeat with the other leg forward. To in-crease the stretch, lengthen the distance between your feet or place the ball of your back foot on a book, keeping your heel down.
Repetition: Repeat, stretching each calf two to three times daily.
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