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Rowers’ Self-Reported Behaviors, Attitudes, and Safety Concerns Related to Exercise, Training, and Competition During Pregnancy

Background The American College of Obstetrics and Gynecology notes that pregnant athletes require more supervision due to their involvement in strenuous training schedules throughout pregnancy. Currently, rowing is not mentioned in the guidelines despite its increasing popularity, high cardiovascula...

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Autores principales: Franklin, Ashley, Mishtal, Joanna, Johnson, Teresa, Simms-Cendan, Judith
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Cureus 2017
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5624563/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28983443
http://dx.doi.org/10.7759/cureus.1534
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author Franklin, Ashley
Mishtal, Joanna
Johnson, Teresa
Simms-Cendan, Judith
author_facet Franklin, Ashley
Mishtal, Joanna
Johnson, Teresa
Simms-Cendan, Judith
author_sort Franklin, Ashley
collection PubMed
description Background The American College of Obstetrics and Gynecology notes that pregnant athletes require more supervision due to their involvement in strenuous training schedules throughout pregnancy. Currently, rowing is not mentioned in the guidelines despite its increasing popularity, high cardiovascular demands, and risk for abdominal trauma. Methods This study aimed to elicit information from competitive female rowers regarding exercise, training, and competition during pregnancy. We administered a survey consisting of 122 items to female Masters rowers in the United States, aged 21 to 49 years, from June to December 2013. Results A total of 224 recreational and elite rowers met the inclusion criteria. Pregnant rowers self-reported high levels of exercise engagement: 85.2% (n/N = 98/115) exercised during any past pregnancy; exercise adherence decreased throughout pregnancy with 51.3%, 42.4%, and 15.7% meeting and/or exceeding national guidelines during the first, second, and third trimesters, respectively. Rowers were significantly (p < 0.001) more likely to state that an activity at a specified intensity and trimester was unsafe if they were younger, had less rowing experience, or were nulliparous. Decreased perceived rowing safety was associated with on-water training, higher intensity exercise, competition, and increasing gestational age. Primary safety concerns were the risk of oar-induced abdominal trauma and physiological effects due to high intensities required by the sport. Novel barriers to exercise in pregnancy included guilt towards the team and a mental barrier due to decreased performance. Healthcare providers are the number one information source for rowers regarding exercise during pregnancy. Conclusion Pregnant rowers are a relevant obstetrics population and have barriers and sport-specific safety concerns not previously identified in the literature. Rowers consider exercising in pregnancy to be important and struggle to meet exercise guidelines like the general population, indicating the need for healthcare providers to provide prenatal and antenatal education and interventions to support exercise during pregnancy even amongst athletes.
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spelling pubmed-56245632017-10-05 Rowers’ Self-Reported Behaviors, Attitudes, and Safety Concerns Related to Exercise, Training, and Competition During Pregnancy Franklin, Ashley Mishtal, Joanna Johnson, Teresa Simms-Cendan, Judith Cureus Epidemiology/Public Health Background The American College of Obstetrics and Gynecology notes that pregnant athletes require more supervision due to their involvement in strenuous training schedules throughout pregnancy. Currently, rowing is not mentioned in the guidelines despite its increasing popularity, high cardiovascular demands, and risk for abdominal trauma. Methods This study aimed to elicit information from competitive female rowers regarding exercise, training, and competition during pregnancy. We administered a survey consisting of 122 items to female Masters rowers in the United States, aged 21 to 49 years, from June to December 2013. Results A total of 224 recreational and elite rowers met the inclusion criteria. Pregnant rowers self-reported high levels of exercise engagement: 85.2% (n/N = 98/115) exercised during any past pregnancy; exercise adherence decreased throughout pregnancy with 51.3%, 42.4%, and 15.7% meeting and/or exceeding national guidelines during the first, second, and third trimesters, respectively. Rowers were significantly (p < 0.001) more likely to state that an activity at a specified intensity and trimester was unsafe if they were younger, had less rowing experience, or were nulliparous. Decreased perceived rowing safety was associated with on-water training, higher intensity exercise, competition, and increasing gestational age. Primary safety concerns were the risk of oar-induced abdominal trauma and physiological effects due to high intensities required by the sport. Novel barriers to exercise in pregnancy included guilt towards the team and a mental barrier due to decreased performance. Healthcare providers are the number one information source for rowers regarding exercise during pregnancy. Conclusion Pregnant rowers are a relevant obstetrics population and have barriers and sport-specific safety concerns not previously identified in the literature. Rowers consider exercising in pregnancy to be important and struggle to meet exercise guidelines like the general population, indicating the need for healthcare providers to provide prenatal and antenatal education and interventions to support exercise during pregnancy even amongst athletes. Cureus 2017-08-01 /pmc/articles/PMC5624563/ /pubmed/28983443 http://dx.doi.org/10.7759/cureus.1534 Text en Copyright © 2017, Franklin et al. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/ This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
spellingShingle Epidemiology/Public Health
Franklin, Ashley
Mishtal, Joanna
Johnson, Teresa
Simms-Cendan, Judith
Rowers’ Self-Reported Behaviors, Attitudes, and Safety Concerns Related to Exercise, Training, and Competition During Pregnancy
title Rowers’ Self-Reported Behaviors, Attitudes, and Safety Concerns Related to Exercise, Training, and Competition During Pregnancy
title_full Rowers’ Self-Reported Behaviors, Attitudes, and Safety Concerns Related to Exercise, Training, and Competition During Pregnancy
title_fullStr Rowers’ Self-Reported Behaviors, Attitudes, and Safety Concerns Related to Exercise, Training, and Competition During Pregnancy
title_full_unstemmed Rowers’ Self-Reported Behaviors, Attitudes, and Safety Concerns Related to Exercise, Training, and Competition During Pregnancy
title_short Rowers’ Self-Reported Behaviors, Attitudes, and Safety Concerns Related to Exercise, Training, and Competition During Pregnancy
title_sort rowers’ self-reported behaviors, attitudes, and safety concerns related to exercise, training, and competition during pregnancy
topic Epidemiology/Public Health
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5624563/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28983443
http://dx.doi.org/10.7759/cureus.1534
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