Abstract
Background: There are various physical changes during pregnancy and postpartum. Pregnancy is the common cause for lordotic posture. Due to poor posture adapted musculoskeletal pain occurs after pregnancy and decrease core muscle strength. Because of weak core decreased lumbar stability. There is a relationship between core strength and back pain. There are beneficial effects of regular exercise in post partum period on core strength in postnatal women. Aim: To compare the effectiveness of pilates Vs conventional exercises on core muscle strength in postnatal women. Methodology: Ethical approval from institute was taken. Fifty women were selected according inclusion exclusion criteria, and they were randomly divided into Pilates Group A (n=25) and conventional Group B (n=25). Sphygmomanometer was used to asses core muscle strength, 6 sessions per week and half an hour per session. Treatment was given for 3 weeks. Results: In within group analysis the muscle strength measurement showed statistically significant improvements in both the training groups. In this study pilates group core strength improved from with mean (44.72+2.836) to (75.88+5.262) mean percentage in functional ability by 78 %; p=0.0003 as compared to conventional group with mean (44.72+2.475) to (51.60+3.014) and mean percentage in functional ability by 52 %; p =0.0162 over the period of 3 weeks. In this study, the Pilates group showed significantly more increase core strength as compare to conventional in post natal women. Two tail p value is < 0.0001 is Extremely significant. Conclusion: In this study we concluded that after 3 weeks of training, pilates exercises are more effective than conventional exercises in improving core muscle strength in postnatal women.
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