{"id":4547,"date":"2015-11-16T09:29:00","date_gmt":"2015-11-16T09:29:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/associatednews.us\/content\/2015\/11\/16\/say-yes-to-down-dog-more-yoga-poses-are-safe-during-pregnancy\/"},"modified":"2015-11-16T09:29:00","modified_gmt":"2015-11-16T09:29:00","slug":"say-yes-to-down-dog-more-yoga-poses-are-safe-during-pregnancy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/associatednews.us\/content\/say-yes-to-down-dog-more-yoga-poses-are-safe-during-pregnancy\/","title":{"rendered":"Say Yes To Down Dog: More Yoga Poses Are Safe During Pregnancy"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Allison Aubrey<\/a><\/span> <\/p>\n

\"Four<\/a><\/div>\n
\n
<\/div>\n
\n
\n

Four pregnant women sitting in lotus position. Thomas Northcut\/Getty Images<\/strong> hide caption<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

i<\/strong>toggle caption Thomas Northcut\/Getty Images<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Lots of studies have looked at the health benefits of prenatal yoga for the mother to be. There’s even some evidence that yoga can be potentially helpful in reducing complications in high-risk pregnancies.<\/p>\n

But does yoga have any impact on the fetus?<\/p>\n

“I wasn’t able to find any evidence-based studies” to answer this question, says Dr. Rachel Polis<\/a>, who practices gynecology at Koasir Children’s Hospital in Louisville, Ky. So she and a group of collaborators decided to conduct their own study. Their findings have just been published<\/a> in the journal Obstetrics & Gynecology<\/em>.<\/p>\n

They recruited 25 healthy pregnant women in their third trimesters. All the women in the study had uncomplicated pregnancies; no high blood pressure or gestational diabetes.<\/p>\n

During one-on-one yoga classes, the women were guided through 26 poses \u2014 everything from standing poses, to twisting poses to stretching.<\/p>\n

\n
\"Child's<\/div>\n
\n
\n

Child’s pose Chris Gahler\/Jersey Shore University Medical Center\/American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists<\/strong> hide caption<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

i<\/strong>toggle caption Chris Gahler\/Jersey Shore University Medical Center\/American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

“We found these postures were really well tolerated by women in our study,” says Polis, who conducted the research while she was a resident at Jersey Shore University Medical Center. “Women’s vital signs, heart rates, blood pressure \u2014 these all remained normal.”<\/p>\n

In addition, there were no falls or injuries. And none of the women reported “decreased fetal movement, contractions, leakage or fluid, or vaginal bleeding in the 24-hour follow-up,” according to the study manuscript.<\/p>\n

And very important, the fetal heart rate during all 26 poses remained normal.<\/p>\n

“Because we had them [the pregnant women] on continuous fetal monitoring, we could see that the fetal heart rate remained normal,” says Polis.<\/p>\n

During the study, the women avoided inversion poses such as handstand or headstand to reduce the risk of falls. And for obvious reasons they also avoided lying flat on their bellies.<\/p>\n

But they did try poses that some yoga teachers have advised pregnant women to avoid. These include the downward-facing dog; the happy baby pose \u2014 that’s a pose where you lie on your back and hold your toes like a baby; and the corpse pose, where you lie on your back. Pregnant women are often told to lie on their sides, not their backs, during the final stages of pregnancy.<\/p>\n

\n
\"Downward<\/div>\n
\n
\n

Downward facing dog pose Chris Gahler\/Jersey Shore University Medical Center\/American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists<\/strong> hide caption<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

i<\/strong>toggle caption Chris Gahler\/Jersey Shore University Medical Center\/American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Polis says her study finds all of these four poses were well tolerated.<\/p>\n

So, the message here seems to be: Go for it!<\/p>\n

“This is preliminary information, but I think it’s exciting and reassuring to know there were no adverse changes for both mom or baby,” Polis says.<\/p>\n

There is one caveat. Polis says it’s important that every woman check with her ob\/gyn to make sure that there are no complications before hitting the yoga mat.<\/p>\n

This entry passed through the Full-Text RSS service – if this is your content and you’re reading it on someone else’s site, please read the FAQ at fivefilters.org\/content-only\/faq.php#publishers.<\/em><\/p>\n

Source:: http:\/\/www.npr.org\/sections\/health-shots\/2015\/11\/16\/455890447\/say-yes-to-down-dog-more-yoga-poses-are-safe-during-pregnancy?utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=healthcare<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\"Four<\/a><\/div>\n
\n
<\/div>\n
\n
\n

Four pregnant women sitting in lotus position. Thomas Northcut\/Getty Images<\/strong> hide caption<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

i<\/strong>toggle caption Thomas Northcut\/Getty Images<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Lots of studies have looked at the health benefits of prenatal yoga for the mother to be. There’s even some evidence that yoga can be potentially helpful in reducing complications in high-risk pregnancies.<\/p>\n

But does yoga have any impact on the fetus?<\/p>\n

“I wasn’t able to find any evidence-based studies” to answer this question, says Dr. Rachel Polis<\/a>, who practices gynecology at Koasir Children’s Hospital in Louisville, Ky. So she and a group of collaborators decided to conduct their own study. Their findings have just been published<\/a> in the journal Obstetrics & Gynecology<\/em>.<\/p>\n

They recruited 25 healthy pregnant women in their third trimesters. All the women in the study had uncomplicated pregnancies; no high blood pressure or gestational diabetes.<\/p>\n

During one-on-one yoga classes, the women were guided through 26 poses \u2014 everything from standing poses, to twisting poses to stretching.<\/p>\n

\n
\"Child's<\/div>\n
\n
\n

Child’s pose Chris Gahler\/Jersey Shore University Medical Center\/American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists<\/strong> hide caption<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

i<\/strong>toggle caption Chris Gahler\/Jersey Shore University Medical Center\/American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

“We found these postures were really well tolerated by women in our study,” says Polis, who conducted the research while she was a resident at Jersey Shore University Medical Center. “Women’s vital signs, heart rates, blood pressure \u2014 these all remained normal.”<\/p>\n

In addition, there were no falls or injuries. And none of the women reported “decreased fetal movement, contractions, leakage or fluid, or vaginal bleeding in the 24-hour follow-up,” according to the study manuscript.<\/p>\n

And very important, the fetal heart rate during all 26 poses remained normal.<\/p>\n

“Because we had them [the pregnant women] on continuous fetal monitoring, we could see that the fetal heart rate remained normal,” says Polis.<\/p>\n

During the study, the women avoided inversion poses such as handstand or headstand to reduce the risk of falls. And for obvious reasons they also avoided lying flat on their bellies.<\/p>\n

But they did try poses that some yoga teachers have advised pregnant women to avoid. These include the downward-facing dog; the happy baby pose \u2014 that’s a pose where you lie on your back and hold your toes like a baby; and the corpse pose, where you lie on your back. Pregnant women are often told to lie on their sides, not their backs, during the final stages of pregnancy.<\/p>\n

\n
\"Downward<\/div>\n
\n
\n

Downward facing dog pose Chris Gahler\/Jersey Shore University Medical Center\/American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists<\/strong> hide caption<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

i<\/strong>toggle caption Chris Gahler\/Jersey Shore University Medical Center\/American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Polis says her study finds all of these four poses were well tolerated.<\/p>\n

So, the message here seems to be: Go for it!<\/p>\n

“This is preliminary information, but I think it’s exciting and reassuring to know there were no adverse changes for both mom or baby,” Polis says.<\/p>\n

There is one caveat. Polis says it’s important that every woman check with her ob\/gyn to make sure that there are no complications before hitting the yoga mat.<\/p>\n

This entry passed through the Full-Text RSS service – if this is your content and you’re reading it on someone else’s site, please read the FAQ at fivefilters.org\/content-only\/faq.php#publishers.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[47],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4547","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-health"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/associatednews.us\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4547","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/associatednews.us\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/associatednews.us\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/associatednews.us\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/associatednews.us\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4547"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/associatednews.us\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4547\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/associatednews.us\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4547"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/associatednews.us\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4547"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/associatednews.us\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4547"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}