Protocol of physical activities for pregnant women: case study

Abstract

Pregnancy is an occasion of intense of intense changes on muscles and bones. It also causes physical and emotional changes, which lead to a health condition. Pregnancy differs from the normal condition of the body because of its various physiological and hormonal adjustments directed to the creation of an ideal anvironment for the fetus. The organic and aemotional systems of a pregnant woman are all involved in this complex process. Thus, during the entire pregnancy period, the woman goes though hormonal, muscular, circulatory and respiratory transformations of great importance. These transfomations happen so that her body is able to naturally transform itsel to form, develop and acommodate her baby. However, to some women these modifications bring consequences that result in pain and limitations on their daily activities, once these changes on the pregnant woman´s biomechanics. Currently, besides stimulating their patients to be more physically active, many obstetricians believe that, when a woman performs some types of exercise uring pregnancy, it is less probable that she will have difficulties during the birth process of her baby. This work has an objective of elaborating a protocol of exercises for pregnant women in order to know the real benefits of physical activities, aiming at a preparatory work for the birth and looking to develop a good physical form for these women. Also, this work aims at applying this protocol to learn the real benefits of physical activities on pregnant women. in order to develop the present work, a recrutment of pregnant patients was carried out to apply this protocol, which was developed at CESUMAR, University Center of Maringá. After the accomplishment of this work, it is concluded that the physical activities oriented by physical therapists can provide significant improvements on the complaints presented by the pregnant women, though more research with a larger sampli needs to br done in order to prove the real benefits of physiotherapeutic exercises on pregnant women.