It’s a known fact that pregnancy alters the way your body looks but will pregnancy change your body forever? From rocking an adorable new baby bump to watching as your feet and toes swell up with extra fluid during your last trimester, there are a variety of changes that can occur around your body that just seem like par for the course.
But can pregnancy transform your body irrevocably in other ways – even in places you may not see?
A recent study published in the journal BMC Pregnancy and Childbirth revealed that women’s strides can grow shorter and wider as trimesters progress, which in turn demonstrates that ladies are more apt to change physically as they’re getting ready for baby.
Additional findings published in the Journal of Orthopedic and Sports Physical Therapy showed that women who are runners may undergo even more substantial changes to their physiques.
Researchers found that pregnancy could result in a tilt in the pelvis that remained permanent in runners, and that this could impact the way women landed on their feet while running.
Transformations in pregnancy
In addition to the changes that expecting your first child can produce if you’re a runner, pregnancy will change your body in other ways that may surprise you.
Many women start to notice as they progress in each trimester that their hair has altered. This is because pregnancy hormones like estrogen and progesterone can change the structure of follicles as well as affect oil production. What does this mean for you?
Well, if you’re a woman with normally curly or kinky hair, you may notice that your wayward locks have been easier to tame over the last few months or, conversely, can’t be controlled at all. Meanwhile, those with limp locks may detect a certain spring in each strand that wasn’t there before.
Another remarkable change that can take place involves vision. Women may start to notice that their typically strong peepers are positively weaker than ever, and things seem blurrier than in years past.
One way to overcome late-in-the-game vision problems related to pregnancy is to pay a quick visit to an eye doctor – he or she can assess whether your vision has taken a turn for the worse since getting pregnant and help you find viable solutions.
So, yes, pregnancy will change your body. At the same time, changes are inevitable as we age.