If you’ve ever been pregnant, you know how clumsy you seem to get as your pregnancy progresses. Pregnancy has a huge effect on a woman’s body. From the hormonal changes to the changes to a woman’s shape, being “tippy” and falling is a real concern.
Shifting center of gravity
Pregnancy brings forgetfulness, interrupted sleep and lots of fantasies about the little one soon to enter your life. All of these things can mean your attention isn’t where it should be.
Once your baby bump becomes a baby mound, seeing things that could trip you up also becomes an issue. Not to mention that the mound is shifting your center of gravity. More weight in front means that tipping forward is more likely. It’s easy to trip and end up falling.
Relaxin hormone
All those hormonal changes can wreak havoc with your ability to remain upright. Not only do they cause forgetfulness and overly emotional responses, those hormones also affect your joints.
The closer your delivery date looms, the looser your joints become. This is because one hormone, relaxin, is used by the body to prepare it for birth. It relaxes the joints and their connective tissue in the pelvis to stretch during delivery. However, relaxin doesn’t recognize one joint from another and they all relax meaning your get clumsy.
Talk to a physical therapist
Your emotions also come into play. You’re excited, preoccupied, overwhelmed, exhausted and increasingly uncomfortable. So what can you do? Well, if your obstetrician is ok with you exercising, do that. Stronger muscles can help compensate for the other conditions.
The plus in that is it’s a proven fact that exercising during pregnancy also help with delivery. Not sure what is safe? Talk to a physical therapist. They are trained to know body mechanics and how to help you learn to compensate for your changing body.
