This month we have an amazing guest blog from Emily Gazey-Mitchell, a sports therapist and rehabilitator from Ylime fitness. We could all look after ourselves a bit more so her fantastic blog gives tips on how to avoid those aches and pains from the day to day life of being a mummy or daddy!
‘I know we all do it…..carrying children, changing bags, shopping, lifting pushchairs out of cars…all in a days work as a mama.
Sometimes without even realising we favour one side to lift all of those things.
Then every so often we experience pain/ tightness/headaches/ pins and needles and realise perhaps we’ve over done it. As of course, we are good at putting ourselves to the bottom of the list, but us mama’s need fixing too sometimes.’
I’m here to help with a few top tips to look after your body to keep you at your best!
When we carry weight on one side of the body, as you can imagine; your posture, centre of gravity and balance completely changes.
This means that your muscles have to adapt to the new ‘temporary’ position.
Muscles that should normally be lengthened may be shortened and vice versa creating a compensatory response in the body which can lead to tightness/injury & pain.
To keep your posture at its best my top tips are:
- Perform regular abdominal bracing (simply drawing in your belly button towards your spine)- always maintain a normal breath throughout. Hold for 10-15 secs and relax. You can repeat this as many times as you like.This exercise is really great as you can implement this anywhere (driving, pushing the pushchair and especially when lifting).
- Your back is at its strongest when the middle corset of your body works together.
- Try to carry any weight as central as possible, for example, rather than holding baby on your hip aim to carry them in front of you.
- This gives you two hands to support your child and will maintain your ‘normal’ body position. Back pack style changing bags are also ideal!
- Try to take some time (even as little as 1hr per week) to do some form of exercise just for you! Waking/ running/ attending the gym/ yoga- whatever takes your fancy. Keeping your muscles strong and toned will reduce your risk of injury.
If you are the kind of person who is motivated to exercise at home I have recently followed a great yoga programme on YouTube. Take a look if it interests you:
If you have any questions feel free to get in touch.
Emily Gazey-Mitchell
Ylime Fitness:
Sports Therapist & Rehabilitator BSc
