Dr Izzy Moore on being active postpartum
Izzy Moore is the Associate Professor Human Movement and Sports Medicine. I chatted to her in a recent podcast about female health and research.
Often during pregnancy, some of the issues center around things like pelvic floor dysfunction. I don't think a lot of women are aware that they don’t have to put up with it.
There are other aspects during pregnancy, such as environment and society. Some women will try and run, do exercise. People will give them looks, they’ll get comments like ‘should you be doing that in your condition?’ ‘Is that safe?’
It's a lot for a woman to take. They want to do what's best for them and their baby. It’s almost like scaremongering, because people aren't as educated. There’s not a great deal of information out there.
There is a very generic advice of: do 150 minutes of moderate-intensive exercise. However this is just the general guidance for anyone for physical activity.
People want to know specifics and they're not getting that information.
It’s important to err on the side of caution, obviously.
Women often go to their medical practitioners. GPs are often at the front line, and they may not be aware of guidelines.
It’s a similar lack of information for returning to be active postpartum. Where does someone start? Does someone know how they can return to being active?
No one talks about it during your pregnancy. If you go to antenatal classes, it’s not discussed.
In the antenatal classes I went to, they talked about contraception. Having information about how to start moving again would have been helpful.
I do think women are clearly calling out for this information. It hasn't been and isn’t currently filtering down.
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