Knowledge, attitudes, and practices toward exercises among women visiting an infertility clinic: A cross-sectional study

Globally, there is a rising prevalence of infertility, and it has a negative consequence on the quality of life of women. The researchers aimed to understand the knowledge, attitude, and practice of women with infertility toward exercises. A cross-sectional study was conducted on 332 women aged between 18 and 45 years attending an infertility clinic in a tertiary hospital in Southern India. Participants filled a self-developed, content validated, pilot-tested questionnaire. Informants perceived stress and weight gain to be the major causes of infertility. Exercise was believed to improve fertilization by 55.4% of the participants, and walking and yoga were the preferred mode of exercises

Prevalence of Musculoskeletal Dysfunctions among Indian Pregnant Women

Background and Objectives. Pregnancy triggers a wide range of changes in a woman’s body leading to various musculoskeletal dysfunctions. Most commonly reported musculoskeletal discomforts by pregnant women are low back pain and symphysis pubis pain. The culture and the environmental factors may influence the discomforts experienced by a pregnant woman. There is a dearth of literature in India, regarding the common musculoskeletal dysfunctions experienced by a pregnant woman, and hence this study. Method. A questionnaire to identify the musculoskeletal dysfunction was developed; content was validated and was translated to local languages through parallel back translation. 261 primiparous pregnant women participated in the study and filled the questionnaire in their native language. Results. Among the musculoskeletal dysfunctions reported by the pregnant women, 64.6% reported calf muscle cramps, 37.1% reported foot pain, and 33.7% experienced low back pain in their third trimester. In the second trimester, common musculoskeletal dysfunctions experienced by the women were that of calf pain (47.8%), low back pain (42%), and pelvic girdle pain (37%). Conclusion. Musculoskeletal dysfunctions and general discomforts very commonly affect the activities of daily living of pregnant women. Understanding the common discomforts during various trimesters of pregnancy will help to develop a comprehensive program for prevention and cure

Spatio-Temporal Gait Parameters During Pregnancy and Postpartum

Background and Objectives: Gait can get altered due to various biomechanical changes that occurs during pregnancy and this can affect the overall load distribution on the lower limb joints. These compensations may lead to changes in the spatio-temporal gait variables during pregnancy and postpartum and hence it is necessary to understand them. Method: We conducted a cohort study in which 84 pregnant women were recruited at or before 12th week of gestation and were studied through various trimesters and postpartum. Seventy pregnant women participated in the study and the spatio- temporal gait parameters were recorded using the 3-Step gait protocol on the Win-Track system through various trimesters of pregnancy and postpartum. Repeated measures ANOVA was used to analyze the changes across the time periods. Results: The spatio-temporal gait variables analyzed were step duration, double stance duration, swing duration, step length, gait cycle length and cadence. All the gait parameters showed a significant difference (p<0.05) across the measurement periods. The plantar surface area of the feet and the average peak pressure also exhibited a gradual increase in values with advancement of pregnancy and reduced in the postpartum period (p<0.05). Conclusion: Pregnant women tend to walk at slower speed, with reduced step length, cadence and increased single stance duration and double stance duration in the third trimester compared to the earlier trimesters. The plantar surface area and the average peak pressure also exhibited significant changes across the measurement periods. All the variables reverted back to the first trimester values at six weeks postpartum

The impact of excluding adverse neonatal outcomes on the creation of gestational weight gain charts among women from low- and middle-income countries with normal and overweight BMI

Background Existing gestational weight gain (GWG) charts vary considerably in their choice of exclusion/inclusion criteria, and it is unclear to what extent these criteria create differences in the charts’ percentile values. Objectives We aimed to establish the impact of including/excluding pregnancies with adverse neonatal outcomes when constructing GWG charts. Methods This is an individual participant data analysis from 31 studies from low- and middle-income countries. We created a dataset that included all participants and a dataset restricted to those with no adverse neonatal outcomes: preterm 4000 g. Quantile regression models were used to create GWG curves from 9 to 40 wk, stratified by prepregnancy BMI, in each dataset. Results The dataset without the exclusion criteria applied included 14,685 individuals with normal weight and 4831 with overweight. After removing adverse neonatal outcomes, 10,479 individuals with normal weight and 3466 individuals with overweight remained. GWG distributions at 13, 27, and 40 wk were virtually identical between the datasets with and without the exclusion criteria, except at 40 wk for normal weight and 27 wk for overweight. For the 10th and 90th percentiles, the differences between the estimated GWG were larger for overweight (∼1.5 kg) compared with normal weight (<1 kg). Removal of adverse neonatal outcomes had minimal impact on GWG trajectories of normal weight. For overweight, the percentiles estimated in the dataset without the criteria were slightly higher than those in the dataset with the criteria applied. Nevertheless, differences were <1 kg and virtually nonexistent at the end of pregnancy. Conclusions Removing pregnancies with adverse neonatal outcomes has little or no influence on the GWG trajectories of individuals with normal and overweight