Maternal physical activity, cervical length and its relation to spontaneous vaginal birth at term

Abstract

Despite being the data still to small to allow final conclusions, maternal physical activity, cervical length and its relation to spontaneous vaginal birth at term is a relevant topic for the information of women in early pregnancy. More investigations directly after specific activities such as riding, walking, and biking are needed to answer the questions we receive from our pregnant patients.

Exercise in Pregnancy: The Impact of an Intervention Program in the Duration of Labor and Mode of Delivery

“…Regarding the way of delivery, regular exercise in pregnancy was not associated with a lower cesarean rate, contrary to the results of two recent meta-analyses 7,8 and several studies. 5,6,[9][10][11][12][13][14][15] However, some works have reached similar conclusions and have not proved this association either. 2,3,[16][17][18][20][21][22][23][24][25] Several studies have results similar to ours in vacuum deliveries; no difference was found between regular exercise during pregnancy and a lower rate of instrumental vaginal deliveries, 10,13,14,20,23 including a recent Cochrane revision from 2017.…”

“…If, on the one hand, the present work failed to demonstrate the benefit of exercise in the mode of delivery and in the duration of labor, such as reported by several already mentioned recent works, on the other hand, the safety of physical activity in pregnancy was, once again, reaffirmed, since the intervention group did not show an increased rate of preterm delivery, which is in accordance with the majority of the authors. 3,[7][8][9][10]17,18,[20][21][22][32][33][34][35] The main strength of the present study is the prospective analysis, with several variables gathered and used as confounders. The number of previously sedentary healthy women who were enrolled in the project (n ¼ 41) is an additional contribution of the present work.…”

“…5 Scientific evidence from experimental studies on the influence of exercise on the type of delivery is not consensual, and more studies in this field are needed. 6 While there are studies that show that regular exercise in pregnancy decreases the risk of cesarean delivery, [5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15] other studies show controversial results [16][17][18][19] or have failed to prove this association. 2,3,[20][21][22][23][24][25] In relation to instrumental vaginal deliveries, the situation is similar: some investigations show an association between physical exercise and a lower rate of instrumental deliveries, 6,11 while others do not report this effect.…”

“…8,18,20,21 In addition, some studies report differences between the two groups (with and without physical activity during pregnancy) regarding the duration of gestation after reaching term. Once again, the scientific evidence is not consensual: some authors support a possible association between physical activity and shorter duration of pregnancy at term, 9,17 whereas others do not. 8,10,[20][21][22]28,29 Until now, the benefits or harms of an exercise program on labor outcomes are not fully understood.…”

Efectividad de un programa de actividad física mediante el método Pilates en el embarazo y en el proceso del parto

“…Realizar ejercicio físico durante el embarazo no se ha visto asociado a un acortamiento cervical ni a la aparición de parto prematuro, pero sí está relacionado con el parto vaginal espontáneo a término (Portela et al, 2014), además en mujeres primíparas aumenta la posibilidad de partos vaginales (Silveira y Segre, 2012).…”