Pregnancy: Keeping fit key to avoiding back pain

"A woman's posture changes during and after pregnancy. When they are pregnant they have to carry a lot of extra weight which alters their posture, often resulting in back pain. They are just not told how to exercise to prevent this happening," says Jonathan from Harrogate.

He says that only 15 per cent of mothers do enough exercise during pregnancy.

"Many women don't know what exercise they can safely do during pregnancy and the early days of motherhood, while many others are completely unaware of the permanent damage pregnancy, birth and carrying their babies can have on their bodies.

"I've seen countless women with chronic back and pelvic pain – often well after their children have grown up – as a result of carrying their children incorrectly and poor posture during pregnancy," he explains.

"Up to 80 per cent of pregnant women suffer from back and pelvic pain due to the release of the hormone relaxin, but by making a few adjustments to their posture they can reduce this pain dramatically."

Another common problem caused by pregnancy and birth is stress incontinence. "While most midwives mention the importance of doing pelvic floor exercises, 70 per cent of women still suffer from embarrassing 'leaks' and diminished sexual pleasure as a result of not really understanding what their pelvic floor muscles are," explains Jonathan. "I just thought there was a gap in the market for this type of thing."

After doing a lot of research among mothers-to-be and other health professionals working with women, Jonathan started to draw up an exercise plan.

"I mentioned it to some midwives and they said 'at last'. My wife had our daughter 15 weeks ago and there seems to be so much out there for the baby, but not much for the woman."

FitBack and Bump is a programme of four one-hour classes for up to eight women.

There is one designed specifically for pregnant women and one for post natal women.

The difference between FitBack and Bump and other antenatal and post natal classes such as yoga and pilates is that all classes are run by chartered physiotherapists who are qualified to give advice to women on how to improve their posture and reduce the risk of hurting their backs.

"Physiotherapists are in the ideal position to help educate women. The classes start with a discussion explaining what is happening to their bodies and giving them the chance to ask any questions of the physiotherapist," says Jonathan, who has devised the programme with Samantha Gilliard.

"This is not about aerobic exercising and breaking into a sweat, it is about working to core stability muscles."

Women are given a book explaining what is happening to their bodies and exercises to do at home or the gym.

After a pilot at the Hydro in Harrogate, Jonathan and Sam are busy training physios to deliver the programmes across the UK which are already available from Guernsey to Edinburgh.

"We want it to be the case that wherever you go to a FitBack and Bump class you will get the same, top quality experience."

Peak Physiotherapy, a large private physiotherapy practice operating across West Yorkshire, has recently launched the programmes at Nuffield Health in Guiseley and at The Hydro, and Nuffield Health in Harrogate.

Sarah Joyce, of Peak Physiotherapy, said: "We have received some excellent feedback from the participants who attended, with all the mums-to-be expressing an interest in returning to the post-natal classes once they'd had their babies. It has also proven very successful from a social viewpoint, with the participants now keeping in regular contact since the programme ended."