Our results suggest that women can safely engage in aerobic exercise and resistance training for muscular endurance 3 days/week for 30 minutes throughout gestation.
This systematic review provides a critical synthesis of research regarding the effects of electrical stimulation, exercise training, and motor skills training on muscle strength in children with meningomyelocele. Nine databases were searched using terms related to meningomyelocele and physical therapy interventions. Of 298 potentially relevant citations, six met the inclusion criteria. Each was rated using the systematic review guidelines of the American Academy for Cerebral Palsy and Developmental Medicine. Two studies examined changes in quadriceps muscle torque following electrical stimulation, three investigated upper extremity exercise training, and one evaluated quadriceps strength after motor skills training. Although the limited evidence suggests improvements in strength when using these interventions, much of the evidence is of low methodological quality and all studies were published more than 10 years ago. Further research is needed regarding various strength-training interventions for children with meningomyelocele and the relationship between increased strength and improved activity and participation.
When developing interventions to increase PA in adolescents, it is important to consider the environment in which it takes place as it is the primary contributor to PA levels.
Background:
Mothers often experience muscle soreness following labor and delivery; however, this has yet to be examined. Purpose: To determine the effects of resistance bands on maternal muscle soreness when performed during the second and third trimesters of pregnancy.
Methods:
Women were randomized to an exercise (n = 12) or standard-care (n = 13) groups and completed surveys regarding muscle soreness. The exercise group performed a 15 week resistance band program 3 times/wk. Maternal, newborn, and delivery outcomes were measured. Change scores were calculated and comparisons were made using independent t-tests and chi-square tests.
Results:
Twenty-five women participated, mean age was 26.5 ± 3.4 years. There were no significant differences (p > 0.05) in muscle soreness and maternal and newborn outcomes. Mode of delivery was significantly different (p = 0.05) with the exercise group having more vaginal births (91.7%) compared to the standard care group (61.5%).
Conclusions:
Muscle soreness was not significantly different, however, the mean values were in the expected direction. Further, there was a higher percentage of women in the exercise group having vaginal deliveries. Thus, while the sample size was small, these pilot findings have clinical importance, even if they are not statistically significant due to limited power. The use of resistance bands may be a practical intervention to increase the percentage of vaginal deliveries, the preferred mode of delivery. Confirming these results with a larger sample size is necessary.
Keywords:
Exercise, Gestation, Vaginal birth, Pain management, Muscle soreness, Cesarean section, Pregnancy, Resistance training.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.