Physio says Duchess Kate has “mum hunch” and needs to fix it

Posted in Stages of Pregnancy.
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While the Royals are obviously very privileged, you have to spare a thought for them because they’re constantly under the microscope for all kinds of petty things – especially Kate and Meghan.

Mum hunch?

The latest Duchess faux pas is something called the “mum hunch”. It involves rounding the shoulders forward and shifting the usual centre of gravity – due to the toll raising kids can have.

James Turgis is a physiotherapist and director of Mummy’s Physio and he told Fabulous Online that Kate’s posture has been affected by her babies – and warned it could lead to lower back pain in the future. (We’re guessing Kate probably has back pain already, TBH … because MUM LIFE!)

“The more the baby grows, the more the gravity centre of the mother is going forward,” James pointed out, explaining that mums arch their backs, roll their shoulders and use different muscles to adapt to carrying babies both before and after birth.

“When your body has adapted to that posture – which you’ve had for nine months during pregnancy – you tend to keep this posture for a while.”


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The more babies, the more hunch-y?

James says that some important muscles weaken due to this shift and that others strengthen as the new mum posture is adopted.

“It’s more common with women who have babies close together and haven’t been doing sport in-between.”

Kate’s just one of the high profile mums who has been singled out as having “mum hunch” with Katie Holmes, Victoria Beckham and Angelina Jolie also having their rounded-shoulders highlighted.

What’s the fix?

So what’s a famous – or non-famous – mum to do about this familiar hunch? Yoga and pilates are apparently brilliant for restoring correct posture and strengthening the bits that babies and exhaustion have weakened.

“If mums don’t do anything they’ll mainly start to have lower back pain,” James told Fabulous Online.

“The ideal treatment is to reinforce the pelvic floor and then to work on the posture by doing exercises. For example, the lower back has been arched so it’s good to do some stretching in the opposite direction. Yoga and pilates are a good follow-up – the idea is to strengthen the pelvic floor.”

This is actually brilliant advice, but maybe not so brilliant to make Kate the pin-up when it comes to awareness? #PoorKate!

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