- Take a brief walk as a means of relaxing tense muscles; the activity will help to relieve knots and tension from muscles that were held tightly for too long. Another alternative is to take a warm bath or shower after exercise or when pain becomes intense, letting the warmth relax the muscles. Make sure that you have shoes that offer proper support and that encourage good posture. Reducing tension and relaxing muscles is essential to relieving back pain and preparing for exercise, as overworking tense muscles can result in muscle strain, pulled muscles or other back injury.
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Stand up straight and slowly pull your arms straight out, up and back. Rotate your shoulders as you do so, pausing as long as necessary with each small turn in order to feel the muscles in your back begin to stretch. Alternately, carefully get on your hands and knees with a pillow under your abdomen for support, then carefully begin stretching forward.
You may also find relief in stretching the hamstring by facing a chair with one foot on the seat, hips and feet facing forward. Lean forward toward the back of the chair until you begin to feel the stretching in the back of your thighs. Be careful not to stretch too far, however, as your joints will be looser during pregnancy and you need to avoid hip or knee injuries. -
Engage in a number of simple, low-impact strengthening exercises during pregnancy. Strengthening muscles such as the abdominals, pelvic floor, back, butt and thigh muscles can go a long way toward easing or preventing back pain.
Pelvic tilts will strengthen the abdominal wall, which will assist in both alleviating back pain and helping to prepare your body for delivery. To do a pelvic tilt, get on your hands and knees and tilt your pelvis in the opposite direction of what seems like the natural direction for it to face; hold this position for 10 seconds, then release. Kegel exercises are another alternative for strengthening the pelvic floor muscles, and they too can aid in delivery. Clench your muscles like you are trying to keep from urinating; hold them for 10 seconds, then release. Both of these exercises can be repeated in sets of five or 10.
There are a number of yoga postures which can be used to strengthen the back, legs and pelvic muscles and which are gentle enough that they can be performed every day. You will need a signed release from your doctor before a yoga instructor will teach you during pregnancy, however.
Swimming is a great way to strengthen a number of muscle groups without impact, and is recommended for many women through all stages of pregnancy. In addition to offering gentle resistance to aid in the strengthening of muscles, the water will support your body, reducing the fatigue that you might otherwise feel while exercising.
