Ease Upper Back Pain During Pregnancy

While lower back pain is by far the most common for pregnant women, other areas of the back may experience it as well. Upper back pain during pregnancy normally occurs during the third trimester, at which point the body has undergone the most extreme changes it can in preparation for childbirth. Fortunately, there are things you can do to ease upper back pain, and make the last weeks of your pregnancy as easy and pleasant as possible. After all, you want to be able to focus all of your energy on the baby that is nearly here, and don't want to be distracted with unnecessary pain.

Upper back pain during pregnancy occurs late in the pregnancy because as the uterus expands to its maximum size, it places pressure on your ribs, especially on the right side. Your uterus will stretch up as well as outward, so you may find it harder to breathe as pressure is put on your diaphragm. You may find you have pain in your shoulders, because pressure is being put on nerves in the diaphragm which go up into the shoulders. These pains can be quite sharp, and may sometimes be accompanied by heartburn because of pressure being put on the stomach.

Strain

Many women's breasts also enlarge substantially during pregnancy, and the extra weight can pull your shoulders down, creating strain on your neck, the top of your back and ribs. In addition, your body will be undergoing some major hormonal changes as the body prepares for delivery, so muscles and ligaments are relaxed and loosened. Your ribcage will expand as part of this process, so your lungs can take in extra air. Even though you may sometimes find it hard to breathe, you are actually taking in about 40 percent more oxygen than you did before your pregnancy. This is all meant to prepare you for the rigors of childbirth.

One thing you can do to ease upper level back pain is to buy a more supportive bra. Look for a good nursing bra without underwires. The better your breasts are supported, the less likely they are to cause strain on your neck and upper back. Try to wear comfortable loose clothing so you can breathe and move freely.

When experiencing back pain during pregnancy, you can alleviate some of it by practicing some stretches. Start by holding your arms over your head to take pressure up and away from your ribs. Do chest stretches in the doorway. These are especially good for your shoulders by rotating them up and back, and lifting the ribs away from the uterus.

You can also ease upper back pain by practicing prenatal yoga, and generally focusing on stretches that pull your ribs away from the uterus. A visit to a massage therapist or chiropractor might also be beneficial.

Upper back pain during pregnancy is a reality for many women, but if you practice good posture and the correct stretches, you should feel much better. If you ease upper back pain, your last weeks of pregnancy should go very smoothly.

Ease Upper Back Pain During Pregnancy

You can find helpful information about upper back pain during pregnancy and everything you need to know about ease upper back pain at Aha! Baby.

See Also : What to do to lose weight

Obstacles to Avoid When Trying to Lose Weight During Menopause

As any athlete will tell you, identifying and preparing for obstacles is just as important as practice. From recognizing self sabotaging behavior to mastering the tricks of the trade, covering all of your bases will increase your chances of achieving your goals.

Self sabotaging behavior sometimes hides behind good intentions but more often lingers in the background disguised as "excuses." We may unknowingly employ these behaviors for a variety of reasons - a cop out to avoid working harder or to simply deny ourselves something we think we don't deserve. No matter what excuse you choose, self sabotaging thoughts and behaviors can easily destroy your best weight loss efforts.

Stress Management

Here are a few examples of self sabotaging thought patterns or behaviors to recognized and avoid:

The good intention excuse:

"I don't have time to think about myself right now. With worrying about my elderly mother's health issues and driving her back and forth to her appointments, my needs will just have to wait."

The too busy excuse:

"I can't start an exercise regimen now in the middle of summer, it's too hot and I don't like going to the gym. I'll wait until fall, and besides that, our new work project is going to start next week and I won't really have the time to exercise."

The I don't deserve it excuse:

"That dress is adorable and it would look so cute on a petite figure. Oh well, it's not my style anyway."

No matter how creative you are and well disguised your excuses can be any goal worth having will have its own obstacles. Here are a few obstacles to beware of:

Putting you first:

Make a commitment to taking care of yourself instead of always letting others come first. Women inherently nurture and are born caregivers. Young girls typically learn from role models how to put themselves last. Menopause is the ideal time for making changes and braking old habits. This can be a very liberating time in a woman's life for accomplishing many postponed goals.

Accepting Mother Nature's timetable:

Stop living in denial. Your metabolism inevitably will slow down as you age - it's a fact of life. You will never be able to return to the careless dietary habits of your youth. You must change your lifestyle if you haven't already. You must eat a healthy diet and use up more calories than you consume. It's just that simple.

Using metabolism enhancing tricks of the trade:

Take advantage of scientifically proven methods to assist in speeding up your metabolism and burning calories more efficiently. By eating small low fat, low calorie meals (instead of 3 squares) every few hours you will boost your metabolic rate. In addition, exercising often (12-15 minute intense bursts) to burn fat and increase muscles mass will also speed up your metabolism because lean muscle burns calories more efficiently than fat flabby muscle.

Taking your daily supplements:

You are what you eat! Unfortunately it's very difficult today to get all the nutrients your body needs. A hectic lifestyle supports fast food consumption and other nutrient deficient dietary habits. Our crops are grown in over-utilized nutrient deplete soils and if you live in an area of the country where sunshine is a rare commodity, you may be at risk for vitamin D and other dietary deficiencies. The healthier you are the better your weight loss results will be.

Reducing your stress and balancing your hormones to get rid of stubborn belly, butt, and thigh fat:

Thanks to our estrogen saturated environment women begin developing hormone imbalances such as Premenstrual Syndrome (PMS) long before reaching menopause. In addition, chronic stress elevates the fat storing hormone cortisol. Cortisol increases your body's production of estrogen which makes you gain weight in the female fat zones while at the same time reduces progesterone (the hormone that counteracts the effects of estrogen).

This deadly combination of estrogen elevating effects leads to what is known as Estrogen Dominance resulting in symptoms of PMS, peri-menopause (the 10 years or so before the end of menstruation), and menopause. These conditions are all the result of an imbalance between estrogen and progesterone, the two big players involved in a women's menstrual cycle and more.

Stress reducing techniques such as yoga, mediation, a long walk, or even listening to music may seem trivial but can go a long way toward helping to shed those unwanted pounds.

No matter what strategy you use to accomplish your weight loss goals, research tells us that the most popular diet plans promote weight loss. However, long term weight management requires implementing a success strategy that includes a variety of supportive techniques.

Obstacles to Avoid When Trying to Lose Weight During Menopause

Dr. Patricia Beckstead is the president of Freedom from Menopause®, a unique Internet resource dedicated to helping women achieve optimal health, wellness, and vitality through education and retail sales of holistic product alternatives to prescription drugs.

She created a full line of nutritional supplements for men and women in addition to the Freedom from Menopause® line of bio-identical Hormone Replacement Therapy (HRT) products.

She has for many years been recognized as an expert in the field of alternative medicine. Founder of The Wellness Institute of Nevada, a very successful wellness clinic in Nevada for over eleven years, her clinic provided a wide variety of multidisciplinary healthcare services.

Dr. Beckstead is a featured lecturer for numerous civic and health organizations, hospitals, clinics, women's groups, church organizations, and universities. She volunteers for local women's community outreach programs where she lectures about health and wellness.

She is a published author for nationally recognized publications and her ebook "Balancing Your Hormones in an Estrogen Dominant World" is available on her website, http://www.FreedomFromMenopause.com

She has been a featured guest and hosted local radio programs and satellite talk-radio networks broadcast globally. She has received many honors and awards but her greatest reward is being a wife, mother and grandmother.

Dr.Beckstead@FreedomFromMenopause.com
http://www.FreedomFromMenopause.com
(866) 811-6234

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