Pelvic Health Blog

Yoga During and After Pregnancy

11/8/2017

Written by Michelle Dela Rosa, PT

Anxiety and depression in women can be common before or after giving birth, with rates around 10% and 20% respectively. These disorders can make it hard to care for yourself or your new baby.

Medications, while sometimes effective, have the risk of side effects for you and/or developing baby. Why not try an alternative treatment, like yoga, which has been shown in the general population to help mental health and well-being?

A 2015 systematic literature review showed that yoga was not only effective in decreasing depression and anxiety in perinatal women, but also improved: pain, anger, stress, gestational age at birth, birth weight, maternal-infant attachment, optimism, and well-being. If you are pregnant or just had a baby and are unsure how to progress with exercise, our therapists who are also certified yoga instructors can help you make the leap into fitness.

Sheffield KM, Woods-Giscombé CL. Efficacy, Feasibility, and Acceptability of Perinatal Yoga on Women's Mental Health and Well-Being: A Systematic Literature Review. Journal of Holistic Nursing 2015:34(1)64-79.

The Deep Squat Stretch

11/2/2017

Written by Marzena Bard, PTA

The deep squat is one of our favorites for pelvic floor tightness. If you have pelvic floor tightness or spasms, this is one of the few positions that makes it difficult for the pelvic floor to tighten.

Squat with your feet about two feet apart. (Keep your heels on the floor if you can; otherwise, support them on a folded mat). You can use the wall to support your back.
Separate your thighs slightly wider than your torso. Exhaling, lean your torso forward and fit it snugly between your thighs.
Press your elbows against your inner knees, bringing your palms together, and resist the knees into the elbows. This will help lengthen your front torso.
Breathe deeply and slowly, allowing the pelvic muscles to let go.

Yoga Tip: Downward-facing Dog

8/30/2017

Written by Marzena Bard, PTA

Start your day with this energizing pose in sun salutations, or use it in the evening as a calming, gentle pose.

Pelvic benefits include: decompresses and neutralizes spine, reduces heavy sensation associated with menopause, relaxes pelvic floor, helps with organ prolapse management.

Start on hands and knees.
Make sure your hands are positioned in a straight line, fingers slightly spreading.
Feel your mat mostly under your index fingers and thumbs.
Take a deep breath and while exhaling, lift your hips up, then shift your body weight back.
You can move your feet farther back, and/or further apart, but keep the hands in place.
Relax your head and neck completely, letting them hang down freely. Your body should be like an inverted letter "V."
Breathe slow, and breathe deeply.

Did you know: yoga during pregnancy

12/8/2016

Connect PT therapists incorporate yoga into physical therapy for expectant mothers. Yoga is a well-known practice that provides exercise and mindfulness. A systematic review by Curtis et al (2012) suggests that yoga during pregnancy can lead to better outcomes for pregnancy, labor, and birth. The study reports that it may improve a mother’s “stress levels, quality of life, aspects of interpersonal relating, autonomic nervous system functioning, and labor parameters such as comfort, pain, and duration.”

Kathryn Curtis, Aliza Weinrib, and Joel Katz, “Systematic Review of Yoga for Pregnant Women: Current Status and Future Directions,” Evidence-Based Complementary and Alternative Medicine, vol. 2012, Article ID 715942, 13 pages, 2012. doi:10.1155/2012/715942.

What's New: Gentle Yoga Class

6/10/2016

Gentle Yoga Class - Tibetan singing bowl

Connect PT is excited to offer our new Gentle Yoga class, accompanied by guided meditation and relaxation to the sound of Tibetan singing bowls. The bowls create sounds to restore normal vibratory frequencies in the body. The harmonic vibrations of the Tibetan singing bowls engage the relaxation reflex, slow down the respiratory and heart rates, and disrupt the pain reflex to promote a positive sense of well-being.

The Gentle Yoga class with meditation is taught by Marzena Bard, PTA the first Thursday of each month.

What the research says: yoga for low back pain

9/7/2015

Yoga can offer safe and effective treatment for the rehabilitation of low back pain. Cramer et al (2013) showed “… strong evidence for short-term effectiveness and moderate evidence for long-term effectiveness …” in a systematic review and meta-analysis of yoga and low back pain in 10 randomized controlled trials. There were no reports of serious adverse effects.

Cramer H, Lauche R, Haller H, Dobos G. A systematic review and meta-analysis of yoga for low back pain. Clinical Journal of Pain. 2013 May:29(5):450-60.

Spring 2014 event recap: children's yoga

4/2/2014

Connect PT hosted Yoga for Kids with Special Needs on March 22 and May 31. Marzena Bard, PTA, enjoyed teaching kids and parents fun and exciting ways to exercise with yoga.

For children with special needs, yoga has been shown to: improve attention through breathing and relaxation, facilitate sensory integration, reduce anxiety, and enhance self-esteem.

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