Albany Therapeutic Massage & Sports Performance Center (ATMSPC)

Invest in Your Body for a Healthy and Happy Pregnancy!

As it is said “Prevention is the best medicine.” This is definitely the case when preparing for the 9+month miraculous transformative experience we call pregnancy. In fact, women who exercise and implement adequate nutrition and lifestyle practices before and during their pregnancy benefit in numerous ways:

• Improves circulation, which in turn may reduce the severity of varicosities.
• Enhance muscular balance and strength. Proper posture and learning to cope with the postural shifts during pregnancy are essential to guarding against muscle & joint soreness.
• May reduce the edema of pregnancy and return mobility to swollen joints. May also reduce leg cramps.
• May relieve gastrointestinal discomforts and constipation.
• Research shows that exercise promotes the growth of the placenta.
• Proper functional exercise strengthens the abdominal muscles which assist in stabilizing the torso. A functionally strong abdominal musculature also stabilizes the adductor/abductor muscles of the thighs and help efficient delivery of the baby.
• Exercise helps the postpartum recovery. Strong abdominal musculature contracts more readily after childbirth and speeds the figure/weight recovery period.

***The bottom line is that women who are fit are in better overall health, are better nourished and have more stamina. Fitness and wellness will increase the ease of delivering a baby.

Get Your Body Back on Track!

Today many women struggle to resume their body shape before their pregnancies. The most common problem is a distended abdominal wall from years of having children. Sadly, this is unnecessary. The abdominal muscles go through a unique lengthening process as the fetus grows inside the womb. The growth of the fetus produces an increase stretch on the abdominal wall from the inside causing the body to add functional units called sarcomeres. The increase in the number of sarcomeres makes the abdominal wall longer. After childbirth the stretch force is reduced and the sarcomeres should reduce in number, and the abdominal wall should return to its original length. Unfortunately, this natural rebounding may not take place if the woman becomes pregnant too soon, gains excess weight or has a caesarean section and/or episiotomy. All three of these instances produce unnatural stress and trauma to the abdominal wall and subsequent higher incidence on abdominal wall dysfunction.

Another common occurrence is during pregnancy is damage to the pelvic floor. The muscles can become damaged from the stretch pressure from the expanding womb or an episiotomy. Because the pelvic floor, deep abdominal wall, deep back muscles and diaphragm work together to help stabilize the spine and pelvis, the resultant damage may be the inability to use the abdominal wall muscles. Additionally, when the pelvic floor muscles become dysfunctional the larger shape muscles of the butt atrophy and smaller butt muscles on the side work harder to stabilize the pelvis. This leads to the appearance of a flatter less shapely butt.

We design customized holistic lifestyle and corrective exercise programs to overcome these common and potentially frustrating conditions. Please contact us for more info.

References:

Chek, Paul. “How To Eat, Move and Be Healthy!” Chek Institute, San Diego, CA. 2004.
Clapp, J.F. III, M.D. “A Clinical Approach to Exercise During Pregnancy.” Clinics in Sports Medicine, 1994.
Redmond, Karen. “The Pre-Natal & Post Natal Training Guide.” 1999.

Customized Pre/Post Natal Exercise & Holistic Lifestyle Program: $750

This program provides 4 components: 1) 2-4 Hour Physical Assessment, 2) Customized Exercise Program Design (1.5-hour value) including the “Customized Holistic Lifestyle Program” and the “Advanced Metabolic Typing Program.” 3) TWO One-hour digital audio-recorded results sessions to go over your Advanced Metabolic Typing Test results and program, your Physical, Holistic Lifestyle Assessment results, and your Customized Corrective/Performance Exercise Program. 4) Program Instruction includes 3-4 hours of teaching you your stretching program and exercise program. The stretching program and exercise program will also be recorded on a DVD for you. You are guaranteed ten hours of contact time with Paul. If there is extra time left over after your program is implemented you have the option to receive Neuromuscular Therapy, Personal Training, or Holistic Lifestyle Coaching for the balance of your time.