Pregnancy and Exercise
A young pregnant woman doing relaxation exercise using a fitness ball and holding her tummy
Pregnancy is a “beautiful experience”. Some women may have better experiences than others, but it depends on how a woman embraces her journey. Some people may think that pregnant women should not exercise or are not allowed to let their heart rate over a certain rate. Some may think it is the perfect time to sit back and relax. In fact, those are myths. If a woman has been active prior to pregnancy, it is perfectly safe to continue exercising and listen to your body. If you were not active prior to pregnancy, you want to start slow and, again, listen to your body. You should ALWAYS consult your Doctor either way before beginning or continuing exercising to ensure you are cleared for exercises. Some benefits to exercising during pregnancy include:
A health back is essential in our daily lives. Most of us will have back pain. Preventive care as in stretching can help tremendously! One of the best stretches to do on a daily basis is a hamstring stretch. The hamstrings attach into the pelvis which influences the back. Too tight of a hamstring pulls on the pelvis in a posterior way and creates pressure to our discs, ligaments, and muscles of the back. The best position to stretch the hamstrings is on your back with your knee to the chest. The other leg can be bent if you are really tight or in a straight position if you are more flexible. The knee is drawn to the chest and then straighten the leg up and pull the toes towards you. Hold the position for one minute X 3. Repeat on the other side X 3. Often I suggest a small towel roll in the small of the back for support as you stretch. Also remember to breathe deeply for extra relaxation
One of the things that a Physical Therapist evaluates when you have your initial visit is how you are walking. Gait changes are very common with injuries to the back, hip, knees or ankles. One of the most important things you can do is to start to walk as normally as possible after your injury or surgery. The sooner you get back to a normal gait pattern, the better you will be. Often after surgery you may have crutches, a walker, or limitations per you doctor about weight bearing status which assist you for support until you can fully weight bear. 
How do we quiet the mind when all we feel is pain, frustration, anger and hopelessness with our healing? As a Physical Therapist, we are trained to systematically evaluate the body’s limits, strength, weakness, range of motion, neurological deficits, neurovascular problems, balance and mechanical issues. 
Often times we get injured or undergo surgery and we find ourselves pushing to get better. We forget the orders of the Doctor or Therapist and create more pain and inflammation. We just want to be back to where we were, pain free and living our lives. What about seeing this situation of healing differently? What about learning to listen to our bodies and giving ourselves the time it takes to fully heal physically, emotionally, mentally and spiritually? Listening and slowing down could be the start of compassion for yourself.
One of the challenges we face when working with Combine athletes is, they are training at a very high level daily and we need to use treatments that will allow for and help maximize their high level of training. Likewise, many of our clients feel the same way. Golfers don’t want to give up their weekly game. Runners and tri-athletes don’t want to miss any training days, high school athletes don’t want to miss any games. Even the “normal” activities such as driving, lifting, carrying things and working need to continue daily. 
At ProActive Physical Therapy, one of the treatment techniques we use for a lot of Combine athletes is 
It’s that time of year again, after college bowl games when the top college players are getting prepared to perform at the NFL Combine. Every January here at ProActive Physical Therapy we support Activ8 Athleticism in getting players in top form for their big day. They arrive from all over the country and live here to train and rehab for 8 weeks or more.