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Exercise in pregnancy

Guidelines of the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists for exercise during pregnancy and the postpartum period

R Artal¹, M O'Toole

¹ Saint Louis University, St Louis, MO, USA

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New guidelines for exercise in pregnancy and postpartum have been published by the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists

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Keywords: exercise; pregnancy; post partum

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

In January 2002 the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) published new recommendations and guidelines for exercise during pregnancy and the postpartum period.¹ Regular exercise is promoted for its overall health benefits. Pregnancy is recognised as a unique time for behaviour modification and is no longer considered a condition for confinement. It is currently recognised that habits adopted during pregnancy could affect a woman's health for the rest of her life. For the first time the recommendation suggests a possible role for exercise in the prevention and management of gestational diabetes.

The recommendations also promote exercise for sedentary women and those with medical or obstetric complications, but only after medical evaluation and clearance.

Box 1 lists the absolute contraindications to aerobic exercise during pregnancy, and box 2 the relative contraindications. As with any form of exercise prescription, these recommendations also include the warning signs to terminate . . . [Full text of this article]

S White²

² Olympic Park Sports Medicine Centre, Swan Street, Melbourne, Victoria 3000, Australia; susanwhite@optusnet.com.au

Correspondence to:
Correspondence to:
Dr Artal, 6420 Clayton Road, Ste 290 St Louis, MO 63117, USA;
artalr@slucare1.sluh.edu

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