Tip from the M.D. Thursday . . .

Here is another medical tip from Jason. This one pertains to exercising while pregnant. How many of you ladies out there have or plan to exercise while pregnant?

10/24/13:

It’s almost the end of the week, woo hoo! This week we will talk about something a little more controversial. There is quite a bit of misinformation on the internet in regards to health and wellness during pregnancy. Much of the controversy here, and in many other areas, stems from the overwhelming number of opinions generated when such a large group of people experience the same thing. In medicine we generally shy away from things that haven’t been studied in an effort to practice in an ‘evidence-based’ manner. This means that while we certainly consider anecdotes from other scientists we respect, as professionals we place much more emphasis on things that have been studied, the highest level of which would be randomized controlled trials, which some of you may be familiar with. Exercise in pregnancy is certainly one of those things that has been studied and, with rare exception; it is great for you and your baby! The general rule is that you can continue to work out at the same intensity you did before you were pregnant. If you are just starting out now while pregnant, it would be wise to ease into it. For example, the T25 workouts are relatively short in duration and have modifiers for many of the exercises. If you haven’t been doing these kinds of things in the past a great way to start would be doing this routine with modifiers for everything. As you get through the workouts and improve you fitness you can do more and more of the movements as shown by Shaun T. Here’s a little more information from the Mayo Clinic: 

http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/pregnancy-and-exercise/PR00096

These opinions are mine alone and do not necessarily represent those of the United States Army, Eisenhower Army Medical Center or Georgia Regents University Hospital.