Post-partum recovery week 2: Just move!

There are two things that I knew previously, but that have been reinforced times a million in this rehab journey thus far:

1. Nursing and carrying a baby are terrible for the body (musculoskeletally-speaking)
2. Movement – any movement – is amazing!

The combination of no core strength, and the constant looking down/slouching forward whilst nursing and carrying a baby, is a rough one. I find that even though I know how to resist these postures, I can’t!  I can reverse it only for a moment.  I just don’t have the strength in the necessary muscles.

But I find that movement – literally any movement – is an excellent antidote.  If I can get some blood flowing and muscles activating throughout my body, even if it’s not necessarily specific to the postural “problem areas”, it makes me feel better.  The strength in my core will come back, eventually (… right?!), at which point I’ll be able to work on maintaining better posture while carrying and nursing.  But in the meantime, just getting any muscles firing, I find, helps to keep me from falling into the vicious cycle that is poor posture.

If you are following along, try to incorporate more movement into your day.  Be creative – the options are endless!  Take some nice long breaths; lie on the ground like a starfish and make yourself as big as possible; hang from a doorframe, bear-crawl up the stairs (please don’t bear-crawl down the stairs…).  It’s pretty fun to move randomly, and will hopefully help you to feel more mobile and free.