Prenatal Medical Therapeutic Yoga: An Integrative Approach

Course overview

American maternal health is in shambles. The United States owns the highest death rate of any developed nation, and the highest first day infant death rate. And if you are an African American woman, you have a 4 fold greater risk of dying during pregnancy and your baby has a 2 fold greater risk above the already shameful risk rate. The World Health Organization says we are in a maternal health crisis not just in the US, but globally. What can physical therapy do? Physical therapy has the power especially when combined with the functional mind-body system of medical therapeutic yoga to greatly assist expectant mothers in need. We have a chance, through compassionate care encased in an evidence based yogic biopsychosocial model of care to change the face of maternal health through early intervention and service in critical areas such as those that mind body medicine directly addresses, including neuroendocrine health, orthopaedic and gastrointestinal functioning, pain perception and stress management, all of which can exert an epigenetic effect that impacts not just maternal but also, newborn development and health. In this short course Dr. Ginger Garner will lay out the steps for being change agents in the prenatal care system, through yoga. She will teach you through lecture and case study how physical therapists can be an active member of the maternal health team. Dr. Garners course will introduce how to implement a model of yoga for healthy and complicated pregnancies. You will learn yogic prescription the essence of mind body medicine and mindfulness practices based on the systemic changes and natural phenomenon experienced during pregnancy. As a mind body intervention yoga during pregnancy can increase birth weight shorten labor decrease preterm birth decrease instrument assisted birth reduce perceived pain stress anxiety sleep disturbances affect depression and general pregnancy related discomfort and quality of life physical domains. Yoga offers an optimal evidence based strategy that can positively affect the underlying neuroendocrine issues that ultimately dictate therapeutic outcomes.