Pregnancy Calf Stretch

Commonly Used For: Pregnancy-Related Pain.

Video Transcription: I'm going to show you how to stretch your calves, which is a good exercise to perform during pregnancy to help combat some of those calf cramps that you might be getting. So one way to do this is to get yourself into a stride stance. So one foot back, one foot forward. The leg you're stretching is going to be your back leg. You want to make sure your toes are pointed straight forward, not letting them turn out at all. Once you're in that position, you want to straighten your knee all the way, tighten your thigh muscles in the front here to make sure that leg is nice and straight. And then slowly lunge forward, until you feel a stretch in the back of your calf, here. You want to hold that position 30 seconds to a minute, get a good stretch in that muscle. If you need to hold onto a counter or a chair, anything stable for balance, then go ahead and do so. If you're on bed rest and not supposed to be up and about, another way to do this stretch, is in a seated position. So you can be sitting down. The leg you're stretching is going to be extended out in front of you. You'll need something sturdy to stretch, this is just a hand towel. So a hand towel, a belt, something like that. You're going to hook it around the ball of your foot, kind of up by your toes. Keeping your knee nice and straight again by tightening those thigh muscles on the top here. And then just gently pull back, until you feel a stretch in the back of your calf, or behind your knee. Hold that position 30 seconds to a minute. And then that is your calf stretch.

Pregnancy Cat/Cow Stretch (aka Cat/Camel)

Commonly Used For: Pregnancy-Related Pain.

Video Transcription: I'm going to show you how to do a cat/camel stretch, or a cat/cow stretch, which is used during pregnancy to help gently engage the abdominals and your glutes. And it also can help stretch out that lower back that can get really tight from the forward pull of your belly during pregnancy. It's also used late in pregnancy during labor. If your baby's facing posteriorly, doing this exercise can help shift the baby into a more desirable position. So what you're going to do is get down on your hands and knees. And then you're just gently going to arch your back up, like a scared cat. Hold that position, and then relax it back down. And repeat, so just up, really thinking about trying to stretch through that lower back, and down. If you want a little bit of an extra stretch in your lower back, and your stomach can handle sitting back, what you can do is push up into that scared cat position, and then sit back a little bit. And you should feel a better stretch, in your low back here. If at any point during this exercise you feel pain, or cramping, or contractions, make sure you stop and contact your doctor. And that's your cat/camel or cat/cow exercise.

Pregnancy Clams

Commonly Used For: Pregnancy-Related Pain.

Video Transcription: I'm going to show you how to do a Clams Exercise, which is a good exercise to do while pregnant to help improve your pelvic stability. With the loosening of all those ligaments in there, you can get some instability, which can cause some sciatic nerve pain through that glute and leg pain that you might be getting. So, what you're going to do, is you're going to lay down on your side. If you do have a specific side that's bothering you, you definitely want to exercise that side. So, that would be the side that's facing up, but it's a good idea to do both sides. So, in this case, I'm exercising my left hip here. You're going to get on your side. Make sure that your hips are stacked straight on top of each other. They should be pointing up towards the ceiling. Feet are together, knees are together, and then, maintaining this position here with your hips nice and stacked, you're just going to open and close your knees, just like a clamshell. You want to make sure that you're not rocking your whole body back as you do it. Otherwise, you're not engaging those muscles, those pelvic muscles like you need to. So, once again, keeping your hips stacked straight on top of each other, and just opening and closing your knees, just like this. You should feel the muscle right in here working. If that's too easy for you, you can get an exercise band. [Here's one at Amazon.com] You're going to tie it around your knees, and that will just provide some resistance for you. So, back in your same position: on your side, knees together, feet together, hips stacked straight up towards the ceiling. And same thing, just opening and closing your knees, keeping your feet together and your hips stacked right on top of each other. If you feel any pain, cramping, contractions during this exercise, then stop and immediately call your doctor. All you should be feeling is the muscle working right here in your glutes, that stabilizing muscle. So, these are your Clams Exercise.

Pregnancy Middle Row Exercise

Commonly Used For: Pregnancy-Related Pain.

Video Transcription: I'm going to show you how to do a Middle Row Exercise, which is a good exercise to do during pregnancy to help keep those shoulders back. As our bellies get bigger, it tends to want to pull us forward, especially after the baby even, when you're holding that baby so much, and everything's getting pulled forward. This is a good exercise to open your chest up and get your shoulders back where they should be. So, the first way you can do it is just by squeezing your shoulder blades together. So, getting your arms bent at a 90-degree angle here on both sides, knees bent a little bit, and then you're just going to squeeze your shoulder blades together, like that. If that's easy for you, what you can do is use a TheraBand or any sort of exercise band that has a little bit of stretch and resistance to it [here's one at Amazon.com]. You can tie it around a railing or a banister, or tie a knot in it and close it in a door, and then, you're just going to do the same thing, just do those shoulder blade squeezes. If you don't have anything to tie it onto, like I don't right now, you can do it by sitting down. You can hook it onto your foot, wrap it around your hands, sitting up nice and tall, and then pull back. Same thing, letting those elbows slide along your sides, squeezing your shoulder blades together, trying to get your shoulder out of that forward slump position and into a nice, back position. So, that's your Middle Row Exercise.

Pregnancy Modified Squat Exercise

Commonly Used For: Pregnancy-Related Pain.

Video Transcription: I'm going to show you how to do a Modified Squat Exercise, which is a good way to do squats during pregnancy if doing the regular squats that I've demonstrated in my previous exercise videos are too difficult for you. So, what you're going to need is an exercise ball [here's a Swiss Ball via Amazon.com.], that you can get at any sporting goods store or online. You're going to put it up against the wall, turn around, put it so it fills in the small of your back there, lean into it a little bit. You want to make sure your feet are about hip distance apart and your toes are pointing straight forward. And then, you're just going to slowly squat down and come back up. You want your bottom to kind of follow the curve of the ball as you go down and up, just leaning back into the ball, letting it give you support, making this exercise a little bit easier during pregnancy. Down and up. If at any point you feel pain, cramping, contractions during this exercise, then you need to stop and contact your doctor. So, this is your Modified Squat Exercise.

Pregnancy Pillow Positioning Techniques

Commonly Used For: Pregnancy-Related Pain.

Video Transcription: I'm going to show you some pillow positioning techniques that might help you sleep more easily while pregnant. So, first you're going to need numerous pillows. I like five, if you're going to hit all the different positions. So, of course you'll need one under your head, here. If you're a curvier person, and have a really thin waist here, then it might be more comfortable for you, to put one actually underneath that curve of your waist to help support you there. Another pillow might be more comfortable underneath your stomach, depending on how large your stomach is. And then putting pillows between your knees, here, can be helpful. So that would be four pillows there, depending on your comfort level. If keeping both knees bent isn't comfortable for you, and you're having sciatic nerve problems, one thing you can try is to straighten your bottom leg, get one more pillow to stack on top there, and bend only your top leg. So the bottom leg will stay straight and the top leg will be bent, which is more comfortable sometimes if you're having sciatic nerve problems, than keeping both knees bent. So this is one way to do it, you don't necessarily need all these pillows but, just depending on your personal body type, these are all the different options. If you don't want to have five pillows in bed with you, the Snoogle® pillow, is one of the brands, probably some other brands out there. [Here's the Snoogle on Amazon.com.] This, this, it's a long, curvy pillow, that you can use to kind of wrap around your body. So you can either have it wrap around the front. So underneath your head, between your knees, and underneath your belly, to help support that extra weight in front there. That's one way. Or, if you like to lean back a little bit while you're sleeping, but still stay mostly on your side, you can put the Snoogle behind you. Still coming between your legs, and underneath your stomach. Wrapping around so it comes underneath your head, but now you have a pillow on your back, too. So if you wanted to lean back a little bit, now I have some support on my back, between my knees, and under my stomach still. So this is kind of a nice option if you don't want to be messing with multiple pillows at once.

Pregnancy Piriformis Stretch

Commonly Used For: Pregnancy-Related Pain.

Video Transcription: I'm going to show you how to do a Piriformis Stretch, which is a stretch for the muscle back here in your bottom of your glutes, which can sometimes contribute to sciatic nerve pain that is common during pregnancy. So, if you can do it laying down on your back and bringing your leg forward, as I did in previous exercise videos, then go ahead and do it that way. If your stomach's getting larger and it's too hard to either lay on your back, it's uncomfortable, or you can't get your leg pulled up, then another way to do it is with an elevated surface, so a table or the back of a couch, something that's just higher up for you. What you're going to do is hold on for balance, bring the leg up that you want to stretch, have it supported across your lower leg up through your knee, and then you're just going to sit down into the stretch here. If you sit down and you already feel a stretch there, then you can just hold that position. If you don't quite feel a stretch yet, you can lean forward over it, depending on how big your belly is, if you can get into that position. Again, just waiting until you feel a stretch right through here. Hold that position, about 30 seconds to a minute, whatever's comfortable for you. And then come back out of it, repeat sides. If you feel any pain, cramping, or contractions during this stretch, then definitely stop and get ahold of your doctor. This is your Piriformis Stretch.

Pregnancy Quadratus Lumborum (QL) Stretch

Commonly Used For: Pregnancy-Related Pain.

Video Transcription: I'm going to show you how to stretch your Quadratus lumborum, or QL, which is a muscle in your side here that commonly gets tight during pregnancy, it can contribute to some low back pain. So what you're going to do, is the side that you want to stretch, you're going to put your hand on your opposite hip here. So if I'm stretching my right, I'm going to put my left hand on my hip. I'm going to tuck my right foot behind my left, your toe can be on the floor for balance. And then you're going to lean over, until you feel a stretch through that right side, and just hold that 30 seconds to a minute. If you need to hold onto a table or a chair, something sturdy for balance, go ahead and do so. Again, just holding that stretch, you should feel the stretch right through here. And then you would want to repeat that, on the opposite side, holding again 30 seconds to a minute. If you're on bed rest and not supposed to be up moving around like this, you can do it in the laying down position. So what you're going to do, is lay down on your side, the side that you're trying to stretch, should be facing up. You're going to bring your top arm up over your head, and let it relax there. And then your top leg is going to drop down off the edge of your surface. And then just again, holding that position for 30 seconds to a minute. And you should feel the stretch right in through here. And then you would flip around and repeat on the opposite side there. If you feel any pain, cramping, or contractions during this stretch, then stop and get a hold of your doctor. And that's your QL stretch.

Pregnancy Side Plank Exercise

Commonly Used For: Pregnancy-Related Pain.

Video Transcription: I'm going to show you how to do a side plank exercise, which is a good way to keep your core activated during pregnancy, when it's becoming more difficult to activate your abdominals. So what you're going to do is you're going to lay down on your side. You want to have your elbow, right directly underneath your shoulder, so you want to make sure it's not out like that, it should be tucked in, so that it's coming straight down from your shoulder. Your knees are bent, and stacked on top of each other. Just a little bit in front of your hips. And then what you're going to do is come up, until you're in a plank position, so straight out here. And hold that position, 30 seconds to a minute, or whatever is comfortable for you, whatever starting off position is okay. You're just going to hold that position right there, and you should feel it working in the core muscles that are closer to the floor there. And then you come down out of the position, and repeat on the other side. If that's too easy for you, you can extend your feet, keep your feet stacked one on top of each other. Arm is still here, still keeping that elbow directly underneath your shoulder. And again, you're just going to lift up, until you're in a nice straight position, and hold that around 30 seconds to a minute, depending on your level. And then come on back down, repeat on the other side. So that is your side plank exercise.

Pregnancy Swiss Ball Pelvic Tilts

Commonly Used For: Pregnancy-Related Pain.

Video Transcription: I'm going to show you how to do some Swiss Ball pelvic tilting, or exercise pelvic tilting, which is a good way to just very gently engage your lower abdominals during pregnancy, and help stretch out the lower back as well. [Here's a Swiss Ball via Amazon.com.] If you're having some low back pain, this can be a pain relieving exercise for you. So what you want to do is you're going to sit down on your exercise ball. I'll turn sideways so you can see better. And then what you're going to do is just very gently use your lower abdominals to help push the ball forward, and tuck your pelvis under. So you're going to tuck, and then back to your starting position, tuck, back to your starting position. So your upper body should not move anywhere, it should be staying still, and just your lower body is tucking under, and pushing the ball forward. You can do ten tucks or so, and then if you are having low back pain and that's why you're doing this exercise, just gentle bouncing can also help relieve some of that low back pain. So I like to do ten tucks, forward, and then just do 30 seconds or so of gentle bouncing. Again, if at any time you feel any pain, cramping, contractions, then immediately stop and get a hold of your doctor. So that's your Swiss Ball pelvic tilting exercise.

Pregnancy Piriformis & Gluteus Massage

Commonly Used For: Pregnancy-Related Pain.

Video Transcription: I'm going to show you a good way to massage through your piriformis and glute muscles here, which commonly get tight during pregnancy and can contribute to some sciatic nerve pain that you might be having. So, a good way to do this is to use either a golf ball, or any small, hard, round object will work really. What you're going to do, is you're going to lay on your back. You're going to put the ball underneath your bottom, right wherever it is that you feel that tight, painful area. Keep that leg bent, your opposite leg will be straight. And then all you're going to do is let your leg drop out, and back up, out, and back up. You should feel the golf ball, or whatever you're using, kind of kneading into your muscle, right where that painful spot is. You can do that a few times, and then move the golf ball a little bit. Kind of move it around to different parts of your muscle, depending on where you're getting your pain. And just massage it out. It'll be painful initially, but the more you do it, the less pain you should feel in there. If at any point during this exercise you feel pain, cramping, contractions, then definitely stop and get a hold of your doctor. So this is your glute massaging exercise.