Running during pregnancy and postpartum Part B: How does running related advice and guidance received during pregnancy and postpartum affect women’s running habits?

Background: Women are unsure about the suitability and safety of running when pregnant and postpartum, with advice from medical professionals often conflicting.

Aim: To explore the exercise and running-related advice pregnant and postpartum women received and the impact it has on their running habits.

Study design: Observational, cross-sectional

Methods: 883 postpartum women completed an online survey. Questions were developed using pregnancy exercise guidance and clinical postpartum running guidelines. Odds ratios (OR) were used to assess associations between receiving prenatal advice and receiving postpartum advice, receiving prenatal advice and continuing to run through pregnancy and return-to-running postpartum and receiving broadly sourced running-related guidance.

Results: 37% and 31% of postpartum women received prenatal exercise advice and broadly sourced postpartum running advice, respectively. Those who received prenatal advice were more likely to receive postpartum advice (OR: 1.78 [1.33–2.38]). Receiving exercise-related advice was not associated with continuing to run during pregnancy (OR: 1.17 [0.89–1.54]). Having returned to running postpartum was associated with receiving broadly sourced postpartum running-related guidance (OR: 2.19 [1.45–3.32]). Women that were aware of the return-to-running clinical guidelines took longer to return-to-running than those who were not aware [14 (10-20) vs. 10 (6-16.5) weeks respectively, U=34889, p<0.001].

Conclusion: Exercise and running guidance was only provided to a small proportion of women. To influence exercise habits and return-to-running, guidance needs to be individualised and specific to the needs of perinatal women.