COLUMBUS, Ohio — When the pandemic forced people to stay home, it halted daily physical activity for many. Now, with the world opening back up, people may be noticing some aches and pains from that lack of movement, especially pregnant women or new mothers.
Molly Lyons and her husband, Brian, just welcome their baby girl Elsie into the world.
“My pregnancy during the pandemic, was unique. It was over the holidays so that was a hard time for I’m sure everybody, but being pregnant you, just kind of want to be around your family members at that time, but our family members were being safe,” Lyons said.
While playing it safe, the couple didn’t venture out much, walk around or visit their favorite food spots.
After a year of not being able to do much, on top of carrying the little one for nine months, Lyons scheduled an appointment with a chiropractor on Monday.
“Just going through pregnancy and delivering a baby is a huge battle your body goes through and so I just think maintenance after it’s a necessity and you know, you get random aches and pains that you didn’t get before when you had pre-baby body and, I just, it’s super important to take care of those before they become bigger problems,” Lyons said.
Dr. Brynn Lay, from Ohio, recently opened Wurth Chiropractor in Colorado with her husband Zach. She received her certifications to become a “birth fit leader,” which means she’ll be with moms throughout the whole motherhood transition.
Dr. Lay says pregnancy is a lot, but postpartum can be even more and she wants to make sure she’s helping each mother, mentally and physically.
For moms who are currently pregnant or have just given birth, she has some advice: For starters, she suggests getting into a OBGYN or a chiropractor, who can take a closer look and see what’s going on. However, if that’s not possible, there is at home self-care that can be done.
Dr. Lay says it’s extremely important to get movement, whether that’s walking, doing yoga, lifting or just stretching.
“It’s really healing, too, if you’re getting movement in there, you’re getting blood flow to a spot and it’s creating healing factors,” Dr. Lay said.
She’s heard of tailbone pain as well. With that, the doctor’s advice is to of course, see a chiropractor if it gets too painful, but place a towel in a donut form and sit on it. She said that will help alleviate some of the pressure.
If a person is having a hard time finding energy, Dr. Lay said focusing on nutrition is key. As for mental health during or after pregnancy, that’s a big one to focus on.
She usually suggests to her patients to journal, whenever they start to feel overwhelmed. A person can write down what is bothering them, what they are grateful for, what’s going right in their life or whatever thought is going through their mind at that time.
Lean on family, friends and a good, supportive, birth team.
“It’s not so much pick an OB, pick a doula, pick a body-worker, pick a chiropractor; Find ones that you like. These people are going to be with you, they’re going to see everything going on and they’re there the entire time,” Dr. Lay said.
Lastly, it’s important to remember self-love.
“This is a huge moment of empowerment for you. You get to birth a human, you get to bring life into this world, and it’s super cool and, yeah, there’s going to be bumps in the road, but at the end of the day you started a new life,” Dr. Lay said.