How much you can safely lift will also depend on how strong your muscles are before you get pregnant, and whether you're using proper lifting technique. When you're pregnant, your ligaments loosen and your joints become less stable, so it's easier to injure yourself. As your belly grows, your center of gravity shifts forward too. This puts more pressure on your lower back and makes it more vulnerable to strain — especially when you're lifting something heavy. The shift in your center of gravity can put you off balance, making falls more likely.
A serious fall is not only dangerous for you, but it could be risky for the baby, possibly leading to preterm labor or premature separation of the placenta. Some research suggests that frequently lifting heavy objects — at a job requiring physical labor, for example — may slightly increase the risk of having a miscarriage. It can also put you at increased risk for joint and back pain.
Before lifting heavy objects while pregnant, it's best to check with your doctor, especially if you do regular heavy lifting as part of your job or for fitness. Your doctor can help you determine how much weight is safe for you to lift. There is limited data on how much weight is safe for pregnant women to lift. The limits take into account how often you lift, how many weeks pregnant you are, and what position the object is in when you lift it. But here is the maximum recommended weight you can lift if you carry it close to your body and at waist level only note that the weight limit is lower if you're lifting from a different position :.
Lifting an object incorrectly, whether heavy or not, can also result in a pulled muscle. A potentially severe complication from heavy lifting is a hernia. Safe lifting techniques dictate you should bend at your knees, not your waist, to pick up an object. It is important to keep your back as straight as possible while bending at your knees and pushing up with your legs.
Also, do not make any jerking or sudden movements while lifting during pregnancy. These are healthy lifting practices whether you are pregnant or not. It becomes even more important to lift things correctly while pregnant because your skeletal and support system is changing and you are more susceptible to strains or problems.
If you are worried about having to lift heavy objects at work or at home, it is best to talk to your doctor about these concerns to make sure it is safe. Remember, you can always ask for help from others, if you need help lifting something while you are pregnant. You are invited get our Free American Pregnancy Association app: iOS Android featuring a kick counter and other useful prenatal wellness support. Physical factors can include: Lifting heavy objects e.
Jobs involving very high physical demands, for example bending at the waist more than 20 times per day or lifting objects more than once every 5 minutes, may increase risks for some adverse birth outcomes: We know that prolonged standing or heavy lifting can cause an increased chance of miscarriage or preterm delivery premature birth.
Pregnant women are at higher risk of an injury while lifting due to differences in posture, balance, and an inability to hold things close to the body because of her changing size. These same changes can also make a pregnant woman more prone to injury from lifting heavy objects or patients.
What jobs commonly involve high physical demands? Many types of jobs can involve physical factors, including: Healthcare workers Manufacturing workers Construction crews Service workers Flight attendants Firefighters Childcare providers and teachers Farm and greenhouse workers Law enforcement officers What is not known?
They also suggest that work positions be varied from standing to sitting to walking around. This admonition against standing for more than five hours should of course apply not only to women who are working outside the home, but also to those who do their work at home, managing their household chores and children.
They all should be off their feet and resting every few hours. What about lifting heavy objects? Is it true a pregnant woman should not lift anything heavier than 25 pounds? Not completely true…. So if she lifts a heavy load she can injure herself, but will probably do no harm to the pregnancy or the baby. There are no studies that show that lifting more than 25 pounds has an effect on birth weight or prematurity.
The current recommendation is that the maximum load a pregnant woman should lift in late pregnancy should be reduced by 20 to 25 percent from that which she was able to lift in her pre-pregnancy state.
What about strenuous physical work? A salesperson, a construction worker, a chef, a surgeon and a homemaker may have strenuous jobs, stand a lot and feel exhausted at the end of the day, but obviously there are tremendous differences.
Also, we have to remember that for some, work may entail additional risk factors such as extreme physical exertion, heat, noise and environmental toxins. Nor does work in pregnancy necessarily mean outside the home; it can be just as or more strenuous in the home, especially if a pregnant woman has to care for other children and has no help or emotional support.
Studies that have tried to look at a combination of all these factors show a general increase in prematurity and a slight decrease in birth weight with strenuous work that requires long hours. But the same studies also show that taking a defined rest period every four hours and having time off during the month decrease the incidence of pre-term birth in women, especially if the job requires manual labor.
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