Running Postpartum: How soon after childbirth can I run?
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04/01/2021 12:00 AM
Your body has gone through a lot physically, mentally, and emotionally. Running postpartum requires a solid foundation as well as compassion and grace for your physical body. Slow is fast for running postpartum.
While you may feel great at two weeks postpartum, we want to remind you that soft tissue structures inside your body are still healing.
In order to support and hold up the uterus inside your pelvis and core region there are three pairs of ligaments: cardinal, pubocervical, uterosacral. Your uterus grows to the size of a watermelon during pregnancy—almost 500 times its original size. I’m going to venture out and say that birth would fall in the category of “severe sprain” and a minimum of eight to twelve weeks of intentional healing is necessary before running exercises.
Before stepping foot on a trail, treadmill, or the street, we encourage everyone to engage in a lying in period.
This is 30 days of bonding with your baby and nourishing yourself. After the lying in period, we recommend the BIRTHFIT Basics: Postpartum to everyone. This can either be done 30 days in a row or every other day for six days (and walking on the alternate days). After completing the BIRTHFIT Basics, only then do we give the green light to use our Return to Running Program or our Postpartum Training, which has dynamic movement and running sprinkled throughout.
We feel like eight to twelve weeks is what should be the minimum recommended time for healing before returning to or trying running, jumping, and other dynamic movements.
This includes your CrossFit class, Orange Theory, and even triathlon training or power yoga.
You may be fine the first week or on runs of 1 mile or less. Then when week two rolls around or you run 2 miles you may reach your current threshold with urinary incontinence or new bleeding or pain anywhere in your pelvis. Stop what you’re doing. Rest, recover, and reflect. You may need to go another two weeks without dynamic movement. You may need to get more intentional with your breathing and practicing your stability breath when warming up with the BIRTHFIT Basics. And/or, you may need to visit a pelvic floor PT and put exercise on a pause. All of this is okay. Nothing is wrong with you. You are healing.
A 2012 University of Salford study, conducted by Dr Julie Wray concluded that women need a year to recover both physically and emotionally after childbirth. (Huffington Post Article). Keep in mind that every birth experience is different and everyone’s healing timeline varies.
Dynamic movements in the initial year postpartum may feel like two steps forward and one step back.
We hope to see you in our Return to Running Program and/or our Postpartum Training Program.
Maybe your postpartum period is different than you planned on it being.
Click here if you’re healing from a traumatic cesarean birth.
Click here if you’re healing from a traumatic vaginal birth.
If you want to check your postpartum core for diastasis rectus abdominis (DRA) read this post for step-by-step instructions.
This is a general strength and conditioning program for women in all seasons and cycles of life. You receive four workouts each week with options for those with limited equipment and variations on movements.
Start moving and training with your cycle ❤︎
Slow is Fast when you heal your core and pelvic floor from the inside out by starting with breath work, natural movement patterns, and continue to progressively build upon a solid foundation. The number one referral for doctors and midwives.
Are you open to conception? Join us in B! Community training. A general strength and conditioning for women that train while honoring their menstrual cycle. Everyone is in a different part of their journey, we support you where you are.
Do Pregnancy Different, when you connect with your body daily through a safe, effective prenatal training program for all levels and all fitness backgrounds that includes core and pelvic floor prehab, mobility, strength, and conditioning.