Effects of Regular Exercise During Pregnancy

Pregnancy is regarded as a period of high risk when it comes to development of e.g. excessive weight gain, gestational diabetes and musculoskeletal problems such as low back pain and pelvic girdle pain, and urinary and fecal incontinence. While pregnancy and labor imply these and other risks, exercise is regarded as advantageous during pregnancy. Today's knowledge about the importance of exercise during pregnancy is mainly based on observational data from epidemiological studies, and the scientific strength of the clinical recommendations given is open to question. There is a great lack of results from randomized clinical trials with high methodological quality, assessing the effects of exercise during pregnancy. As a result of this, many important questions are still not answered. One of these is the effect exercise during pregnancy has in the prevention and treatment of disease and complications which may arise during pregnancy. Another question is the consequences that exercise during pregnancy has for labor and delivery. This study is designed as a randomized clinical trial using validated measurement tools to find answers to the mentioned questions.

In both national and international literature the importance of physical activity is highlighted. WHO has recently presented a global strategy for nutrition, physical activity and health. In Norway physical activity and exercise have been strongly addressed, and is an issue of high priority also in pregnant and postpartum women (St.meld.nr.16). Nevertheless, few trials evaluating the effects of regular exercise have been published. There is a need for evidence based knowledge to be implemented in education of health professionals, and in the development of health promotion strategies aiming at the general population.