High Risk Pregnancy and Exercise

Featuring Tamarah Calyniuk, MPT, CAFC

Duration: 2 minutes, 43 seconds

So exercise in high risk pregnancy, you must receive a medical clearance to exercise both alone and with a personal trainer.

High risk includes such things as high blood pressure with pregnancy, multiples, being twins or triplets, any vaginal bleeding, placenta previa - which can express itself at greater than 26 weeks - an incompetent cervix or any medical condition such as heart or lung disease.

Termination of exercise upon conception may include absolute contraindications to exercise, which can be your heart disease or your lung disease, your incompetent cervix, your risk of premature labor, or second and third trimester bleeding, or ruptured membranes or preeclampsia. These can all be discussed with your doctor.

And some relative contraindications to exercise which may lead to termination closer to end of pregnancy are such as severe anemia, an irregular heart beat, chronic bronchitis, type 1 diabetes, obesity, extreme underweight, intrauterine growth retardation, so therefore a small for date baby, poorly controlled hypertension, any orthopedic limitations, seizures, hyperthyroidism or smokers.

Again, if any of these issues arise, it's important to discuss with your doctor what and how you can exercise, and if it's going to put your baby at risk or yourself at risk.

Presenter: Tamarah Nerreter, Physiotherapist, Surrey, BC

Local Practitioners: Physiotherapist