Running post-pregnancy

Question:

I gave birth to our son Thomas on 13th August and have just been for my 6-week check-up. I stopped running in April as it became uncomfortable and would like to get back to it now. How best should I start running again, or would I be better to do some cross-training first? I continued with Pilates and swimming and walked every day throughout pregnancy and have been doing the same since.

Regards
June


Answer:

Dear June,

Running post-pregnancy

I would recommend that you start with cross-training and Pilates for at least a month to optimise your core stability and pelvic floor muscle control. Pilates is a great form of exercise for runners generally but especially post-pregnancy.
You can then gradually return to running by doing interval sessions i.e. walking for a few minutes then running for a few minutes. Once you feel comfortable with this you can then resume continuous running.

Kind regards

Angela Benjamin MSc MCSP
Chartered Physiotherapist