Essential Exercises for the Childbearing Year A Guide to Health and Comfort Before and After Your Baby Is Born

Essential Exercises for the Childbearing Year A Guide to Health and Comfort Before and After Your Baby Is Born

.. a classic since 1976. Like good wine, it has become enriched with age… improves with each revision. — BookMarks, International Childbirth Education Association, Minneapolis

An encyclopedia of information so well written…difficult to put down once started…it leaves no question unanswered. — Family Journal

An encylopedia of information so well written that it is difficult to put it down …leaves no question unanswered. — Family Journal, Jan-Feb 1982

Elizabeth Noble is a writer and teacher extraordinaire. — Jane Frahm, PT, Past-President: Section on Women’s Health, American Physical Therapy Association

Essential Exercises undoubtedly presents the role of physical therapy during pregnancy and postpartum in the most complete fashion. — Raul Art, MD, Author: ACOG Guidelines for Exercise During Pregnancy and the Postpartum Period, Exercise in Pregnancy, and Pregnancy and Exercise

It has become a classic…like good wine… enriched with age, as Noble improves it with each revision. — BookMarks, ICEA Bookcenter, Minneapolis

Noble stands out dramatically as one of the few women who have significantly improved the health of childearing women… — Doris Haire, President; American Foundation for Maternal and Child Health

This book has faithfully served clinicians and lay persons by providing sound, practical information relating to the childbearing period. — ADVANCE for Physical Therapists

User Ratings and Reviews

5 Stars nurse midwife reviews
A classic, this is the one and only book for pregnancy. Don’t waste money on the others….real mind-body solid information. A must have!

5 Stars Essential Reading for pregnant women
My favorite part of Elizabeth Noble’s book is the appendix, which contains a list of common ailments and holistic treatments that can be performed on and by pregnant and postpartum women. There is also a very good posture checklist, and a list of essential exercises after cesarean section. I was fascinated by the description of local polarity therapy for the treatment of pubic symphisis, which I suffered from after my first birth, until I gave birth again. (page 219) The author says she has used this treatment successfully for 15 years. That is one of the many things I saw in Essential Exercises that I wish I had known about when I was pregnant or postpartum.

Another essential piece of wisdom in the “wish I’d known that” category is the entire section on abdominal muscles: their structure, function, and vulnerabilities. If only I had known there were corrective isometric exercises that can and should be done in the days immediately after birth to shorten stretched abdominal muscles so they can begin to regain strength and prevent permanent belly bulge.

I appreciate the thorough attention the author gave to helping women understand the importance of a strong pelvic floor and the detailed suggestions for strengthening those muscles. Knowing that a weak pelvic floor can cause many unpleasant quality of life issues, I came away from this book determined to continue strengthening mine and to communicate the importance of PF exercises to my daughters and the women I teach.

4 Stars Great Read!
Every mom-to-be or woman trying to get pregnant should read this book, and do the exercises. It’s got great exercises for pre and post partum, in addition to phsiological information about the birthing process. The post partum exercises begin as easily as pulling your belly button to the spine and can begin the day after delivery the exercises will to regain your lower abdominals and prevent the dreaded muffin-top.

5 Stars essentail exercises for the childbearing years
the book is a good book althought i was a little disappointed becasue there were about 6 pages that didn’t print good and the material printed half on one page and the rest on the other page. aside from that the book it’s is very usefull.

5 Stars Must Have
This book educates women about important exercises during pregnancy and post partem that will give them a new perspective on how their bodies work. In fact, imparting the exercises throughout life from now on would benefit every woman immensely.

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