So you’ve bought a birthing ball! Or big exercise ball for that matter (it’s the same thing btw). And you don’t quite know what to do with it. The birthing ball is actually one of those pregnancy props that I feel has great mileage, if you know what to use it for. It’s not just for a one-time use in the delivery suite!
For starters, if you suffer from lower back aches as a result of prolonged sitting, you can try using the birthing ball to replace your chair/sofa. I love sitting/bouncing on it for a few minutes each day, to open up my pelvic floor and lengthen my spine. I even spend hours sitting on it when I use it to replace my chair when using my laptop – it definitely forces you to have better posture since it’s harder to slouch on the ball (and you can’t lean backwards otherwise you’ll fall right off – be careful!). Here are 5 other exercises that you can do on the birthing ball!
Hip Tilts & Circles
Sit on the ball. You can have your hands on your hips/behind your head/outstretched – if you’re doing this for the first time, hands on your hips will give you better feedback on how the movement feels like. Hike one side of your hips while keeping your shoulders quite stable, and think of a pendulum motion as you rock your hips from left to right and vice versa.
You can also do this front & backwards. Think of curling your pubic bone toward your belly button to round the lower back, then going the other way, as if you’re pointing your tailbone out to slightly arch the lower back. Flow between these two positions. Hip circles combine both the left/right and front/back movements.
Seated side-to-side stretch
Seated side-to-side stretch
Reach your arms up to the ceiling, lengthening the spine. Take a breath in, and bring the hands toward the right side as you exhale. You can take another breath here, seeking to deepen the stretch toward the right on the exhale. Breathe into the left side of your ribs as you create space there. Return to the center and repeat on the other side. You can also combine this with a slight hip tilt, just like in the previous exercise – when you stretch your arms to the right, you may slightly hike your right hip as well for a bigger stretch on the opposite side.
Seated spine stretch
Seated spine stretch
Sit on the ball with your hands behind your head. Breathe in to open elbows out to the side and lift the chest and bringing the spine into extension. As you exhale, draw elbows forward and round the spine, focusing on stretching from the mid-back. You may also use your hands to bring your head down, chin towards the chest to stretch the back of your neck.
Kneeling spine stretch
Kneeling spine stretch
This is similar to the cat/cow stretch that you might already be familiar with. Come to a high kneeling position with the ball right in front of you, and your hands on the ball. As you breathe in, start to roll the ball away as you melt your body downwards into the position in the picture above, keeping the chest slightly lifted. As you breathe out, curl from the tailbone to round your spine and restack it as you roll the ball back towards yourself. Continue to flow between both positions.
Kneeling side-to-side stretch
Kneeling side-to-side stretch
In a kneeling position but sitting back slightly towards your heels, have both of your hands on either sides of the ball. Roll the ball to the left slightly, allowing your body to sidebend towards that side, then return to the center and repeat on the other side. If you feel wobbly, limit the range to which you sidebend, and also perhaps sit backwards, closer to your heels. You can also do this in a low kneeling position for more stability.
I hope these exercises were helpful for you! They’re simple enough that you can practice them on a daily basis, and will be great for you to take into your birthing experience as well! If you’re still looking for a ball, the one that I’m using is from F1 Recreation, and you can get 10% off your purchase with my code “PILATESANDPRINTS10”! The full video walkthrough of this sequence is also up on my IGTV.