Exercise in pregnancy from the perspective of traditional Persian medicine

Background and Purpose:

Pregnancy has always been considered as a sensitive stage of life with various physiological changes. A separate chapter has been dedicated to pregnancy care in traditional Persian medicine books in order to maintain health and reduce complications. In this regard, exercise is of special importance as one of the principles of maintaining health. In this study, we intend to investigate the effect of exercise during pregnancy in the context of traditional Persian medicine.

In this review study, data was collected and categorized based on purposeful sampling of valid Traditional Medicine books such as Al-Qanun fi al-Tibb, Zakhireye Khwarazmshahi, Khulasat al-Hikmah, Mufarriḥ al-Qulūb, Kāmil al-Sinā`a al-Tibbīya, Al-Hawi fi al-Tibb, Tibb-i Akbari. These were compared with findings of modern research from Google Scholar, PubMed, Magiran, IranMedex, Science Direct, Scopus, SID databases between 2005-2021.

In pregnancy measures, maintaining the health of mother and fetus and eliminating body wastes is of crucial importance. Physical activity and exercise are considered as one of the methods of eliminating these wastes, for which different classifications and several benefits have been mentioned. Benefits and appropriate/inappropriate types of exercise during pregnancy have been discussed in this study regarding elimination of pregnancy complications.

Physical activity and appropriate moderate exercise in pregnancy, lead to improved maternal and fetal health and prevent many pregnancy complications. Moreover, taking precautions in exercising during pregnancy and personalizing physical activity based on pre-pregnancy habits is advised.