Postural assessment is something that I perform with all of my mommy clients because it’s almost always overlooked especially with weight loss likely being everyones primary concern. I would argue that postural correction for a new mommy will even make you look a few pounds lighter and also feel much better – so pay attention!

One of the most common postural imbalances I see with new mommies that are carrying their babies is the #PosteriorTilt which is a postural deviation where your pelvis is tilted backward causing your lower spine to decrease its natural extension. This causes the upper spine and shoulder girdle to round forward to maintain centre of gravity, causing our bums to appear flat and droopy along with our tummies to appear bigger than it should because we’re pushing outwards – not a good look at all!

The side effects of this postural imbalance include weak #hips, weak #quadriceps, tight #hamstrings, possible #sciatica, weakened abdominal muscles, tightness in the lower back and neck, along with tight chest muscles.

So why does this happen? Obviously carrying a newborn for hours on end takes a toll on us physically and, it’s well noted, that the body will adapt to what we do most often. Surprising muscle tissue can adapt in as little as 15-30 minutes so standing or sitting a particular way for hours on end (for months or years!) can certainly cause postural deviations.

Obviously I feel exercise is imperative for new mommies because what we do outside of the gym is equally important as what we do when we train. Exercise usually takes about 1 hour of our day leaving the other 23 hours for our body to adapt to what we do most which is why I also highly recommend being conscious of your posture when we walk and also when we sit by standing more erect and keeping a more natural alignment of the body. As a tip, I always think my “Bum is the last part of my body to walk through a door”.

To help correct “Mommy Bum”, I highly recommend strengthening and stretching of the gluteal muscles, core strengthening, quadricep strengthening, hamstring stretching, and many Yoga movements are also excellent to help release the overactive muscles for Posterior Tilt imbalance. I also recommend seeing a Chiropractor and/or RMT regularly to assist with the correction of your posture during pregnancy and also after.

Check out some of my Dynamic Flexibility work that will help improve the active range of motion on your hips that can also be done from home in a matter of minutes – https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLTJABOcYl8GvhIijxH_W_c1fQcBj_YD31

I will be sharing more postural correction and strengthening exercises for new mommies in the upcoming weeks 🙂