Ease the strain on your shoulders
After the birth you’ll spend a lot of time carrying your child, breastfeeding and doing housework. All these activities can put strain on your shoulders and lead to pain in your back and arms.
Loosening exercise for the shoulder area
- Stand with your legs hip-width apart
- Your feet should be parallel with toes pointing forwards.
- Distribute your weight evenly between both feet.
- Bend your knees slightly
- Pull in your belly button
- Breathe in through the nose and out slowly through your mouth
- Lengthen your spine by pulling up through your head
- Interlock your fingers in front of you so your arms form a circle (palms facing you)
- Generating swing from your shoulders, lift your arms over your head and stretch them above you without releasing your fingers.
- Look up at your hands
- Maintain the pose for a few seconds
- Feel a gentle stretch in your arms, shoulders and upper back
- Breathe in and out
- Release your fingers and stretch your arms out wide to circle them down and repeat the stretch
- Shake it out
Important:
This is supposed to be a gentle stretch and shouldn’t hurt. You can do this exercise anywhere and at any time. If you feel up to it you can start this exercise shortly after the birth.