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Summary of international guidelines for physical activity after pregnancy
journal contribution
posted on 2015-04-10, 10:59 authored by Kelly R. Evenson, Michelle F. Mottola, Katrine M. Owe, Emily RoushamEmily Rousham, Wendy J. BrownPostpartum physical activity can improve mood, maintain cardiorespiratory fitness, improve weight control, promote weight loss, and reduce depression and anxiety. This review summarizes current guidelines for postpartum physical activity worldwide. PubMed (MEDLINE) was searched for country-specific government and clinical guidelines on physical activity after pregnancy through the year 2013. Only the most recent guideline was included in the review. An abstraction form facilitated extraction of key details and helped to summarize results. Six guidelines were identified from 5 countries (Australia, Canada, Norway, United Kingdom, and United States). All guidelines were embedded within pregnancy-related physical activity recommendations. All provided physical activity advice related to breastfeeding and 3 remarked about physical activity after cesarean delivery. Recommended physical activities mentioned in the guidelines included aerobic (3/6), pelvic floor exercise (3/6), strengthening (2/6), stretching (2/6), and walking (2/6). None of the guidelines discussed sedentary behavior. The guidelines that were identified lacked specificity for physical activity. Greater clarity in guidelines would be more useful to both practitioners and the women they serve. Postpartum physical activity guidelines have the potential to assist women to initiate or resume physical activity after childbirth so that they can transition to meeting recommended levels of physical activity. Health care providers have a critical role in encouraging women to be active at this time, and the availability of more explicit guidelines may assist them to routinely include physical activity advice in their postpartum care.
Funding
UL1 TR000083/TR/NCATS NIH HHS/United States UL1 TR001111/TR/NCATS NIH HHS/United States UL1TR000083/TR/NCATS NIH HHS/United States Canadian Institutes of Health Research/Canada
History
School
- Sport, Exercise and Health Sciences
Published in
OBSTETRICAL & GYNECOLOGICAL SURVEYVolume
69Issue
7Pages
407 - 414 (8)Citation
EVENSON, K.R. ... et al., 2014. Summary of international guidelines for physical activity after pregnancy. Obstetrical and Gynecological Survey, 69 (7), pp. 407 - 414.Publisher
© Lippincott, Williams & WilkinsVersion
- AM (Accepted Manuscript)
Publisher statement
This work is made available according to the conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0) licence. Full details of this licence are available at: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/Publication date
2014Notes
Closed access until 1 July 2015ISSN
0029-7828Publisher version
Language
- en