The Effect of Simple Exercise Maneuvers and Proper Performance of Daily Activity on Outcome of Pregnancy

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

1 Instructor, Department of Nursing, Faculty of Nursing and Midwifery, Arak University of Medical Sciences, Arak, Iran.

2 Assistant Pref., Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Faculty of Medicine, Arak University of Medical Sciences, Arak, Iran.

Abstract

Introduction: Exercise could play an important role in health keeping during pregnancy. Few studies have been done to elucidate the causes of these effects of exercise in pregnancy outcomes in women. Due to the probability of poor outcomes of pregnancy accompanied by economic, physical and psychological consequences this research was carried out in order to investigate the effects of some simple exercises and proper daily activity on the outcome of pregnancy.
Methods: This experimental study was conducted on 138 of pregnant women that were in eighth to twelfth weeks of their pregnancy who referred to the either health centers or the clinics of gynecologists for control of pregnancy. They were selected by block sampling methods. After thorough explanation of the goals of the study and obtaining the written consent, the enrolled women were randomly attributed into two study and control groups. The study group included 66 women and control group included 72 women. The research had four stages: 1) taking history, 2) a teaching program for study group, 3) collecting data, 4) assessment and analyzing data using Chi-square and T tests.
The enrolled women in the study group did 60 minutes of light aerobic exercises for every other day for 30 weeks.
Results: The enrolled women in the study and control groups had normal labor in 98.4% and 61.1%, respectively. The Chi-square test showed significant differences between both groups based on parturition sort (χ2=14.5, p<0.05). Odd ratio of natural parturition in the study group was 5.36. The T test showed the significant statistical difference between both groups on the first minute Apgar score (P<0.009, t=0.85) and the fifth minute Apgar score (P<0.001; t=2.80). But there was no significant difference of the average weight gain of enrolled women during pregnancy between two groups.
Conclusion: Findings of our study showed that doing exercises during pregnancy period not only resulted in no harm to the mother and fetus but also improved outcome of pregnancy.

Keywords

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The Iranian Journal of Obstetrics, Gynecology and Infertility
Volume 12, Issue 3 - Serial Number 3
September 2009
Pages 51-57

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