The purpose of our study was to evaluate the knowledge of exercise guidelines among postpartum women. We also reviewed the existing guidelines and presented them in this study.
We collected the data by means of the online questionnaire platform 1ka, using a total of 52 questions. We used the Microsoft Excel 2016 and IBM SPSS Statistics 25 computer programs to analyse our data. Descriptive statistics were calculated for all variables, the normality of the distribution was checked with the Shapiro-Wilk test, the pre- and post-comparisons were calculated with the t-test for dependent samples and the Wilcoxon test, and the descriptive variables were compared using a chi-squared test or the Fisher test. All tests were performed at a risk level of 5 %.
We found out that women have the knowledge of the guidelines for safe postpartum exercise, although there are certain gaps. Nevertheless, they believe they did not get enough information about safe postpartum exercise from health professionals. They also have knowledge about PFM (pelvic floor muscles) and the related strengthening exercises, however, they do not perform them regularly. We also found that the knowledge of the guidelines does not depend on the place of residence.
We were surprised by the finding that women are more physically active postpartum than before pregnancy, which is inconsistent with the reviewed literature. We attributed this to the fact that, in our sample of women, an average of 1 year has passed since birth, meaning that their babies are no longer nursed as frequently and that the mothers have time and energy for indulging in physical activity. The average postpartum retention weight in our sample was 3.83 kg, which is substantially more than the 0.5 kg reported by Mottola (2003).
The findings of our study will be useful for all coaches and trainers who encounter women in their training sessions, and also for all young mothers who seek information and do not know how to start exercising after having a baby. The guidelines summarized herein will also be beneficial for all women who are in their fertile years.
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