2022’s Baby Boom: Is your fitness professional qualified to work with you?
Michelle (Mish) Wright
Writer, educator, speaker, and consultant. I support organisations large and small in improving/creating their education products. Head of Education at Women's Fitness Education.
If you are pregnant or have a new baby... Congratulations!
You, my friend, are part of the COVID baby boom that Australia is witnessing right now.
And you are not alone. An extra 1,400 extra babies will be born in Victoria alone between this April and August. With the other states following suit with increases in birth rates.
There are many good reasons to stay / or start getting fit and strong. Exercising when you are pregnant is good for you and good for your baby. Research showing mothers exercising while pregnant, gave their children better cardiovascular health and disease prevention.
Regular exercise while pregnant can also help manage weight gain and keep gestational diabetes risk to a minimum. Exercise gives positive benefits of improving mental health and well-being.
And while some elite athletes may keep up their training routines, until they physically can not, most pregnant women require help and support in finding the right way to exercise during this time. Many first time mums or those who have had previous pregnancies with the crippling experience with pubis symphasis dysfunction can feel even more anxious about exercise without getting the right advice.
All postnatal mums need to be assessed for DRAM (the splitting of the abdominal muscles) and asked about their pelvic floor. This is not routinely asked by their GP or their maternal child and health nurse. And if not picked up early, can have significant ongoing consequences.
Particularly with exercise.
Certificate III + IV in fitness are not adequate.
For nearly 2 years I was on the board that reviewed the educational content that makes up Certificate III + IV in fitness. This process is routinely undertaken to ensure that the qualifications reflect the needs of the marketplace. I was invited onto this review board because of my work with COTA (older adults) and also for decade-plus work with promoting women’s health.
With my starry-eyed naivety and optimism, coupled with my force of nature, I believed I would be able to swoop in and make huge sweeping changes to the qualifications that would benefit women.
But alas from this process I learnt 2 things:
1.?????No one person, or indeed a board of people can impact the path of a huge lumbering beast that makes up the education content of Cert III + IV in fitness
2.?????Exactly what is in each and every module of these qualifications
This second point is important because I am here to tell you, the information and education given for fitness professionals working with pre-post natal women is seriously lacking.
The missing topics in Cert III + IV in fitness.
If you are starting exercise during pregnancy, informed your existing fitness professional, or rejoining exercise post-birth – here is a list of questions your fitness professional should be asking you or checking.
o??What kind of birth did you have? Did you have a cut (episiotomy) or a tear?
o??Did you experience any birth trauma?
o??Has someone checked your pelvic floor?
o??Do you have any incontinence issues?
o??Do you have any heaviness / dragging feeling with your internal pelvic organs
o??Are you mentally coping? Do you have an adequate support network?
I tried to have this extra information included in an update to the Certificate III + IV in fitness. Practical stuff that would arm fitness professionals to be able to work with answers to these questions.
I was unsuccessful.
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Scope of practice
Asking these questions is inside of the scope of practice of your fitness professional. Fitness professionals working within their scope of practice, do not have to diagnosis or are unable to "fix" these issues. However, the answers to questions like these, may be the red flags that means referring their clients to get that proper diagnosis and getting professional support in writing appropriate exercise programs.
I would hope that your fitness professional has a connection with like-minded* pelvic health physiotherapists who can appropriately assess, diagnosis and support your programming.
*Like-minded because not all pelvic health physiotherapists are created equal. You will want to see one who:
Pelvic floor dysfunction or DRAM does not kill women, inactivity does.
Insurance companies require that fitness professionals have extra and specific qualifications to work with pregnant women. And although their insurance does not see the need for extra qualifications post-birth – I recommend that you ask for these also.
Post-birth, your body has changed. And your exercise program needs to reflect this.
EVEolution? is here to help.
Thousands of fitness professionals have completed one or more of the many courses that I have created specifically for them working with pregnant and postnatal women.
And I have yet to meet a fitness professional who does not care about their clients.
However, it can be difficult, even for those Fit Pro's who have had extra training to adequately cater to pregnant and postnatal clients. They may be working in a gym space that has a very tight time frame to conduct an initial consultation. General consultation paperwork may be a one size fits, which is just a tick box for pregnancy. Or in a group fitness situation, there may just be the general question given to all – “Are there any pregnancies or conditions that I need to be aware of?” This is not an ideal situation to raise your hand and admit to wearing a sanitary pad to collect the insides of your bladder.
Fitness professionals may also feel very awkward asking the questions. Or they may believe that the responsibility for knowing what to do, rests with you.
All of these problems are very real.
But that is where my brand new course EVEolution? is here to help.
EVEolution? is an online course for women to navigate exercise, no matter what age or stage they are at.
EVEolution? has 6 modules with one whole module dedicated to pregnancy and postnatal.
I have taught the information women need to work through each trimester and post-birth to literally thousands of women in my own award-winning fitness franchise mishfit?. I have perfected the ways to share information that gives you the “Ahhhh, I get it”. Google can give you many answers... mine are always sourced from the latest research.
EVEolution? allows you to find a qualified fitness professional via our EVEolution? directory where you can easily see their qualifications.
Interested to learn more?
This course has been created for you and you may just want to encourage your PT to join you in completing the course!
Sign up here to be notified when EVEolution? goes live and you can purchase at the opening price. This price will be for a limited time and will never be repeated.
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Strength and Balance Program Coordinator;
2 年So important and even if you have done training in this area, updating it regularly is critical.