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.
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.
