London - Women who exercise regularly before they conceive are far less likely to have painful pregnancies, experts have said.
High-impact activities such as jogging, ball games and aerobics may be the most beneficial for preventing pelvic pain during pregnancy.
The condition, also known as pelvic girdle pain, occurs when the body makes way for a developing baby and affects one in five women in the UK.
Exercising between three and five times a week before trying for a baby helped cut pelvic pain in pregnancy by 14 percent, according to the study in the British Journal of Sports Medicine.
In the latest study, researchers, including from the Norwegian Institute of Public Health, examined data from Norwegian women aged between 14 and 46.
They found that 4 069 experienced pelvic girdle pain during pregnancy. Of these, 12.5 percent had not exercised at all before conceiving.
In comparison, those who had exercised three to five times a week had a 14 percent lower risk of developing pelvic girdle pain in pregnancy.
The researchers said: “High-impact exercises such as jogging, ball games, and high-impact aerobics were associated with less risk of pelvic girdle pain.”
Daily Mail