Bed-rest pregnant moms may need therapy

CLEVELAND, Aug. 1 (UPI) -- A pilot study is testing a set of exercises and programs to help new mothers who had to be confined to bed during pregnancy, a U.S. nursing professor said.

Judith Maloni of Case Western Reserve University's Frances Payne Bolton School of Nursing in Cleveland is exploring interventions that may help the nearly 1 million pregnant women annually sent to bed near the end of their pregnancies to prevent pre-term labor or other pregnancy complications.

These mothers often do not understand why they suffer back problems and muscle aches and are fatigued, while other new mothers seem to bounce back after giving birth.

"Putting people in bed is not a benign kind of thing," Maloni said in a statement.

Following delivery of children, women who had been confined to bed during pregnancy may need physical therapy and other help to overcome long-term effects such as bone loss, decreases in body mass, fluid loss, depression and muscle weakness.

Maloni is in the process of recruiting 80 women in good physical and mental health with at least 21 days or more of bed rest prior to their baby's birth to participate in the study.