"Extreme Stretches" Ok During Pregnancy?

[orange_mommy]

I love to stretch, I've stretched daily for about 13 years and don't like going one day without doing my stretching "routine". It's been 7 years since I was pregnant with my son. Now I'm pregnant again and can't remember for the life of me how long I stretched for into the pregnancy when I became pregnant with him. I know that with him being my first I was paranoid and afraid everything I did or did not do was going to hurt him, and I remember I began to modify my routine as the bump got bigger. And I was able to regain the flexibility a while after he was born. But here's my question... for how long can I do "extreme stretches" into the pregnancy... things like the splits and putting my legs behind my head, doing bridges, etc. It seems to me that I heard something about it being not wise to stretch your abs too greatly during pregnancy because you can hurt yourself, and also I wonder if while doing the more "contortion" type exercises it might kind of smush the baby somehow when it is bigger (I know that sounds silly but I have to ask.) Can I basically just follow what my body tells me as time goes along, or are there rules I need to be adhering to? I also think if I can keep up the stretching, it MUST somehow help during childbirth as well so there has to be SOME benefits to it! Plus I want to lose as little flexibility as possible. Any thoughts?
Thanks in advance!

[karen1968]

I can't do extreme stretches (oh, that I could! ) but I do Pilates on the reformer every week. My instructor reminds me every time (and I totally agree with her), that I should just listen to my body closely. If something doesn't feel right, I don't do it. Sometimes I can do it again the next week (like, when my round ligaments were tight, I couldn't do side sit-ups, but now that they are stretched out, I can).

I think you DO run a chance of huring yourself (though probably not the baby) if you don't listen and try to stretch past your body's CURRENT comfort zone. Remember that relaxin makes everything stretchier, but it also means things won't "snap back" the way you might expect.

There are plenty of people who encourage stretching during pregnancy, and one study I read recently that found daily stretching was better than daily walking for reducing the chance of HBP and pre-eclampsia.

[MaerynPearl]

Originally Posted by karen1968

I can't do extreme stretches (oh, that I could! ) but I do Pilates on the reformer every week. My instructor reminds me every time (and I totally agree with her), that I should just listen to my body closely. If something doesn't feel right, I don't do it. Sometimes I can do it again the next week (like, when my round ligaments were tight, I couldn't do side sit-ups, but now that they are stretched out, I can).

I think you DO run a chance of huring yourself (though probably not the baby) if you don't listen and try to stretch past your body's CURRENT comfort zone. Remember that relaxin makes everything stretchier, but it also means things won't "snap back" the way you might expect.

There are plenty of people who encourage stretching during pregnancy, and one study I read recently that found daily stretching was better than daily walking for reducing the chance of HBP and pre-eclampsia.

as with almost ANY exercise you can do, listen to your body... it really will tell you when it is too much.

Sometimes it will tell you painfully like earlier tonight when I tried to reach over the side of the bed and got RLP... I screamed out in pain and before I had stopped DH was rushing to the bed to make sure I was okay. LOL

[aikigypsy]

You have to be extra careful with stretches from about the 5th month/2nd trimester on because at that point relaxin starts making everything looser, and you can seriously damage your joints. From early 2nd trimester on, I would stick to light stretching, but in 1st trimester you're probably OK to continue your normal routine (when you feel up to it).

[orange_mommy]

Awesome, thanks everyone for your thoughts!

[hollytheteacher]

I do prenatal yoga and there are some pretty intense stretches going on there! (i.e. pigeon pose). But she always says to listen to your body and offers alternatives for anyone that doesn't feel comfortable in whatever poses we are doing.