By Sandra Greiner

Let's face it: You may feel like you have been hit by a train after childbirth. You did the equivalent of a triathalon. Exercise may be the last thing on your mind after birth. Yet this may be the best time to soothe your postpartum aches and pains with very gentle healing exercises that you can easily incorporate into your new daily routine.

The exercises in this plan can help you begin to feel better physically and mentally. Keep in mind that the immense transformation your body undergoes during pregnancy reverses gradually. Although you may be anxious to regain your pre-pregnancy figure, it generally takes six weeks for the hips, pelvis and connecting muscles to realign. It may take longer to shed extra pounds.

Gentle exercises can hasten the restorative process and help you to stand taller, flatten your abdominal muscles, prevent long-term posture problems and prepare you to return to your favorite sports. It is important that your back, pelvis and the connecting muscles return to their proper alignment before resuming regular exercise. Chronic pain can result from premature sessions of running, stepping or weight lifting with misaligned posture and loose joints and ligaments.

Goals

Check with your health care provider before starting this plan. After an uncomplicated delivery, you may begin the day after delivery. The goals of the restoration plan include:

• Kegels (pelvic floor exercises) to heal the pelvic floor and tone stretched muscles
• Stretch the shortened low-back muscles and pectoral (chest) muscles to improve posture
• Tone slack abdominal muscles to help support the lower back
• Realign pelvis and leg muscles to avoid injury
• Improve your mood by taking good care of your body and self-image

It is important that your back, pelvis and the connecting muscles return to their proper alignment before resuming regular exercise.

The Plan

Here is the four-part plan. To make the plan easy to follow, try to incorporate the exercises into your daily routine.

1. Do Kegels 10 to 12 times every time you feed your baby. Do reverse shoulder rolls when you are finished feeding to loosen and relax the neck, shoulder and chest muscles.

2. When you shower, your muscles are warm and relaxed. This is a good time to stretch your chest muscles, hip flexors and lower back. With your back against the wall and feet hip width apart, press your lower back to the wall and pull your navel to your spine. Take five minutes to stretch all the leg muscles.

3. Each day, spend five to 10 minutes on your back practicing pelvic tilts by pressing your lower back to the floor while pulling abdominal muscles in. Progress to sit-ups. Splint your abdominal muscles with a towel if you feel a separation in between your recti (abdominal) muscles right above your navel.

4. Exercise with your baby by walking for 10 minutes, and add five minutes each week. If it's raining, play music and dance together instead.

These gentle exercises should get you on the road to recovery and help you feel like your old self in no time!

Article from Pregnancytoday.com