Proper Body Ergonomics
IN THIS LESSON
Why is using proper body ergonomics important?
Parents (especially mothers) are not prepared for the amount of stress the body undergoes when caring for a newborn, baby and toddler.
This is not mentioned to parents when they first conceive, even though there are preventative measures they can take to strengthen and prepare their body to prevent injury in the postpartum period, especially for hand, wrist, shoulder and back issues.
How and why does your body change after having a baby?
Caring for a newborn requires a ton of core strength because of the constant lifting, carrying, diaper changing, bending, walking, squatting, standing upright…basically all activities of daily living.
It can take a year or more to regain your core strength completely after giving birth. The postpartum body can be prone to injury due to placing stress on other muscles to compensate for the lack of core strength and the changing joint and connective tissue laxity from pregnancy. This affects how muscles function, flexibility, and the amount of stress put on joints.
Changes to your body because of pregnancy that may continue postpartum
How these changes to your body may affect your postpartum posture
There are exercises that can help women regain their core strength in the postpartum period.
In America this is not included in postpartum care unless sought out by mothers.
Muscles that support the increased weight gain and postural changes from pregnancy may become increasingly tight or lengthened. Biomechanical changes may impact walking and running, resulting in decreased step length and stride length, increased base of support and changes in balance . All these changes may not be resolved between 8-16 weeks postpartum. Women will benefit from education and guidance from healthcare professionals to understand the implications pregnancy has on her body physiologically and biomechanically.
“I want the body of an elite athlete “
I saw an instagram post of a mother caring for her 3 children all under the age of 5. The caption on her post read “I have the body and strength of an elite athlete from taking care of my 3 kids.” I thought to myself, that is so true! Taking care of my son is definitely an all day workout and I want to feel like an elite athlete too!"
Elite athletes are trained to be able to perform their sports…new parents are not.
During the first few months after your baby is born, you will be working out all new muscle groups in your hands, wrists, arms, shoulders, back, core, legs, glutes and feet in order to perform the tasks necessary to take care of your newborn i.e. carrying, lifting, rocking, bouncing, diaper changing, dressing and undressing baby, breastfeeding, washing and sterilizing bottles & breast feeding apparel, doing laundry, squatting to pick up your baby and bending in strange positions your body has never done before.
You’ll be doing all of this repetitively on little to no sleep with your focus solely on your baby. This puts new parents at risk for overusing these muscle groups leading to something called repetitive stress injury.
Even elite athletes are at risk for repetitive stress injury from overusing the same muscle groups to perform their sport. In fact these athletes have “rest days” built into their schedule in order to prevent injury and muscle strain.
Babies do not give you “rest days”. It is 24/7 care. During the first few months postpartum having “rest days” is crucial. However, not everyone can afford a baby nurse or have family/friends that can stay with you to help with the baby.
Women are at greatest risk for certain types of nerve and musculoskeletal injuries especially to the arms, shoulders, neck, wrists, hands, fingers, upper back a.k.a. upper extremities.
Anecdotally: First time parents are usually the ones to experience these injuries (like me). Meaning they learn from caring for their first child (I definitely did). They know what NOT to do with their second. This trial by fire method is antiquated. With the advent of the internet that allows us to knowledge share so easily, this should be as easily accessible as birthing class.
I want to normalize “what NOT to do“ as part of preparing for the birth of your child through sharing with you the best ergonomic methods and techniques to prevent injury for the first year of baby’s life and beyond.