EAST LANSING, Mich. — MSU kinesiology professor James Pivarnik, who contributed to the U.S. government's first-ever guidelines on physical activity released in 2008, recently published an article on pregnancy and physical activity for the President's Council on Physical Fitness and Sports.
The council is an advisory committee of volunteers who advise the president about physical activity, fitness, and sports in America. The article, which Pivarnik wrote with his former Ph.D. student and current epidemiology post-doctoral student Lanay Mudd, appears in the council's Research Digest
The article discusses recommended exercise activities for pregnant women as well as traces the development of the guidelines.
"Research indicates that health care providers should encourage their pregnant patients to be physically active during pregnancy, if there are no contraindications to do so," Pivarnik and Mudd write. "Such participation is not harmful to the maternal-fetal unit, and in fact, may be of great benefit to the mother both during pregnancy, and after delivery."
Future studies are needed to confirm previous reports of beneficial effects among more diverse populations, Pivarnik and Mudd write.
"While we have a long way to go, it is exciting to discuss these issues that were barely being considered a few decades ago," the article states.
To read the entire article, click here.
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