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By the time my son celebrated his first birthday, I'd shed my pregnancy weight and was playing racquetball twice a week. A little cocky, perhaps, but not for long. My body soon set me straight: My left hip collapsed into painful spasms seemingly out of the blue one night as I rose from the sofa.
I needed a round of steroids and physical therapy and still it took several months before I could walk comfortably. Along the way, I learned to strengthen my abdominal muscles and watch my posture. And I reluctantly accepted that a 35-year-old mom can't cavalierly lift a 24-pound baby without there being some kind of boomerang effect.
It's no surprise that pregnancy poses a body mechanics nightmare. Your breasts swell almost immediately, straining the neck and shoulders. Hormones relax ligaments throughout your body, including the pelvis, which is vital to lower-back support. And those abdominal muscles are stretched into near uselessness by your growing baby.
New moms, though, often don't realize that the first year after delivery can be just as back- (or neck- or hip-) straining as pregnancy. A battered body, fatigue, a demanding infant, and a society perpetually on fast-forward can stretch some new moms literally to the breaking point, says Hollis Herman, a Boston-based physical therapist and co-author of How to Raise Children Without Breaking Your Back (Ibis, 1995). "Everything in your body has been shifted, plus you're carrying around this 10-pound baby every place you go."
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