swimming and pregnancy

[natharley11]

Swimming ok in pregnancy im 13 weeks tomorrow and wanted take my toddler
Am I ok to do this

squizita I think the issue with breaststroke legs is not so much the range of motion but the speed and force of it, as you're kicking your legs outwards. Even with SPD I do antenatal yoga and can do the majority of the squats as the movement is relatively slow and controlled. Yoga helps with my pain - swimming definitely makes it worse.

Everyone's different but I think that if I'd heard earlier about breaststroke legs potentially triggering/aggravating SPD I would not be in the pain I am now! Instead of that, I ended up telling my midwife (at my 20-weeks appointment) about my pain and the fact that it had started when I was swimming, and she looked at me like I was an idiot and said that I shouldn't have been doing breaststroke, like it was obvious...

I've stuck to a few km a week of front crawl. The only time I swam a lot of breaststroke whilst pg my hips were complaining for days.

Ruby I checked all the reputable websites I know and a couple of (well known, by ObGyn/Midwives) books and they all recommend breast stroke for the 3rd trimester as actually good for most women's posture and eases tension in the pelvis. It's back stroke they say can be a risk nowadays?

Some MW and generally in culture there seems to be a big mix up between symptom and cause with pregnancy issues - e.g. confusion between women with SPD experiencing more pain after breast stroke swimming and the idea it can cause it. Unfortunately, SPD happens or it doesn't and whilst doing the wrong things once you've got it will make it hurt a lot more, it won't affect someone who isn't SPD prone.

The issue may also be with the support the water gives - it is very hard to 'overdo it' jogging because you notice straight away- with swimming there is always the risk of not slowing down enough because you no longer feel heavy. So you end up pushing your heavier body through the water at the same speed, over straining. You won't get too hot as you're in water. So you swim at your usual pace IYSWIM. For example when I dance I certainly instinctively adapt far more, feeling heavier and taking it easier, than when I'm in water.
A lot of my sources are very hot on slowing down, resting and staying hydrated (more about this than with other exercise) so I wonder if that is an issue?

Local pool does antenal aquarobics. It's really nice in late pregnancy. I reccomend it. Plus, the tutor never mentioned the leg thing. Though i did find pulling the legs back together pulled more on the muscles in later pregnancy (maybe due to looser hips) Though it never twinged the nect day. I just slowed down until I was barely more than drifting around the pool!

squizita I completely agree that it won't affect someone who isn't SPD-prone, it's just that with SPD, you won't know how likely you are to get it until you do get it. I hadn't had any symptoms of it before my fateful swim at 13 weeks. I am no doctor, but it really felt like my ligaments suddenly got overstretched due to the outwards kicking motion - whiplash of the groin! My physio agrees this could have been the case. I probably would have suffered from SPD later on anyway, but maybe not to the same extent that I do now.

I'm not trying to scare anyone, it's just that I wish I'd been told earlier that this could be an issue. I did a lot of research after what happened to me and yes, you're correct - many websites don't mention breaststroke being a problem and some even recommend it. Quite a few, however, tell you to avoid it if you've got SPD, which is good advice post-diagnosis - but not much help if you're early in your pregnancy and not sure whether you've just pulled a muscle of if it's something worse. It takes a while before you get a proper diagnosis, too!

Ultimately, my advice would be, do it if it doesn't hurt, but if you start feeling any pain in your groin/pelvis area, stop and do a different stroke!

Ruby yes they mostly talk about doing it in the 3rd trimester, by which time I guess most people would know if they had pelvic issues already.

I loved swimming during my last pregnancy, particularly as I got bigger, it was so nice to feel almost weightless and just float and wade about.

I'm only about 5 weeks along this time but I actually find it helps a bit with nausea and tiredness too, as long as you don't overdo it. I'm a water baby at heart though so could be rather biased!

I'm 25 weeks and swim everyday, 40 mins (approx just over a km I reckon), breaststroke and backstroke. On the days I don't swim I get terrible back pain that is only relived when I swim again.

I disagree that you can still push yourself too hard in the water, I physically CAN'T go at the pace I used to and I know I'm pushing myself too hard when I get too out of breath.

Like anything I think it's different for each individual and needs extra thought.