If you scroll social media long enough, you’ll come across a post that claims curb walking, walking, bouncing on a ball, or [insert movement here] will induce labor. Unfortunately, there is likely not a movement that will put you into labor. BUT movement can help you progress if you are already in labor (which is probably where this myth originated).
Read this blog to learn more about common labor-inducing movements and what they can actually do to support your birth.
But before we continue…
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Myth Busted: Top 3 Highly Recommended Labor-Inducing Moves... And Why They Don't Work
Common movements that are advertised as labor-inducing, include:
- Curb Walking
- Bouncing on a Birth Ball
- Walking
Movement CAN help to support your birth preparation, such as:
- Movement capability to open each pelvic level, with an emphasis on internal rotation and posterior pelvic tilt
- Release tension in the pelvic floor
- Release tension in uterine ligaments
- Support the pelvic position
Our prenatal fitness programs incorporate preparation for birth by programming daily exercises to help open your pelvis for birth, relax the pelvic floor, and support your baby’s position. Your prenatal fitness workouts may not put you into labor, but we can use our workouts to prepare us for birth when it does begin!
Myth #1: Does Curb Walking Induce Labor?
Curb walking is one of the most common “put you into labor” movements. Curb walking is when you have one foot on an elevated surface, such as a curb, with the other foot on a lower surface. This causes a hip hiking type movement as you walk.
It is commonly advertised as a way to help your baby engage, which is said will help your labor begin.
Unfortunately, baby’s station (how high or low they are in the pelvis) does not correlate with labor onset. My baby was engaged at 30 weeks, and labor started at 41 weeks. So, I am a living example of how labor onset is not correlated with labor onset.
How can curb walking support your labor?
Curb walking is an asymmetrical movement, so it is a midpelvis opener, not an inlet opener. Baby enters or engages into the inlet of the pelvis. We open the inlet with external rotation of the hip and a posterior pelvic tilt.
Curb walking could help to open the upper midpelvis to help baby begin their rotation into the pelvis, but in general, curb walking is a midpelvis opener and is more helpful for a baby that is ALREADY engaged to help them rotate into the pelvis.
During labor, curb walking, lateral stair walking, or doing hip hikes can help to open the midpelvis to support your baby’s rotation through the pelvis.
Learn more about the pelvic levels and the labor positions that open each pelvic level (plus how to know when to do them) in our childbirth education course!
Myth #2: Walking Will Induce Labor
If walking induced labor, we would need to be on bedrest from conception until birth. So, myth busted.
Why is walking commonly thought to induce labor? Could be a few things.
- Walking, and other forms of cardio activity, could cause Braxton Hicks contractions or uterine irritability. This irritability can feel like contractions and be pretty uncomfortable!
- Walking can help with labor progress and increase the intensity of uterine contractions if you are in labor.
But, usually once you stop walking, rest, and drink some fluids, you find that the cramping and Braxton Hicks contractions stop.
If you ARE in labor, walking (and movement in general) can help to increase the intensity of your contractions and continue to progress your labor! Motion is lotion during labor–and the more you move in an upright position, the more pressure baby can put against the cervix, which means more labor progress.
So, walking will not induce labor… but it can help to progress your labor if you are already in labor! Walking has been my favorite early labor activity in my own births.
Myth #3: Bouncing on a ball will induce labor
Your birth ball is not a labor induction method… sorry again. Hip circles and aggressive bouncing will not put you into labor. We joke that jumping on a trampoline could induce labor since it could result in your water breaking after it happened to a friend, but not our recommendation.
We can use the birth ball during pregnancy can help with pelvic mobility--we love to use it for pelvic tilts and hip circles in our prenatal fitness programs. Prenatal fitness can really be focused on not only keeping us strong and comfortable throughout our pregnancies but also supporting birth preparation. A part of birth preparation is pelvic and hip mobility, so we can more easily open the pelvis for birth!
Another consideration for pelvic opening is not only pelvic mobility but also thoracic mobility! Our rib cage position plays a large role in how we can position (and open) our pelvis.
You can use your birth ball to do seated thoracic mobility, as well! The thoracic spine can flex and extend (round and arch), rotate, and laterally side bend. We can do movements while sitting on the birth ball for both thoracic and pelvic mobility to support our birth preparation.
In addition, we can sit on a birth ball if we are at a desk to help with pelvic mobility, as lower back pain tends to be more prevalent for those who are more still or sedentary while sitting. Lower back pain seems to be less if you are changing your position more frequently, even while sitting! So, a birth ball can assist with your lower back pain.
We include a lot more thoracic and hip mobility exercises within our prenatal fitness programs and our pelvic floor prep for birth course. In our pelvic floor prep for birth course, we break down how the pelvic floor functions, its role during your birth, and tons of exercises to learn how to release and relax your pelvic floor! You can bundle our prenatal fitness, childbirth education, and pelvic floor prep course and save 15% off all courses!
What about prodromal labor??
Prodromal labor is start-stop labor that can last for several hours, then completely stop, and then resume again the next day. This labor pattern can be really frustrating, as they are actual labor contractions but then stop.
Prodromal labor could be due to baby’s position–so your uterus is working to try to rotate or adjust baby’s position, but it detects that it is doing too much so it will stop. And after allow baby to rest, it resumes its efforts.
If your prodromal labor is due to baby’s position, we can do a lot of movements to help adjust baby’s position and hopefully see labor resume!
We can use the following protocol to adjust baby’s position:
- Inversions
- Upper Midpelvis Opener
- Upright Position
1) Inversions: Adjust Baby's Head Position
The first movement we can do is an inversion–inversions are anything where the head is below the hips. Inversions use gravity to help bring baby to a higher position so they can adjust their head to be more chin tucked. But, the more intense the inversion, the less time you can maintain it. This is where an open knee chest position can be helpful!
In the open knee chest position, you can maintain it for a prolonged period of time (20-30 minutes) to give baby enough time to adjust their position. This can also be helpful if your labor contractions are really spaced out!
In the open knee position, we want the angle at the hip to be greater than 90 degrees; so not wide knees, but rather the torso and thigh angle is open (see image below). It can be hard to maintain this position, so your partner can use a long fabric across your thigh (spread out for more surface area) and use their feet to block yours to keep you from sliding.
2) Upper Midpelvis Openers: Help Baby Begin to Rotate
Next, we can focus on an upper midpelvis opener in a supportive position. This could include an exaggerated side-lying position or fire hydrant position. What we are looking for is asymmetrical external rotation at the hip to open the upper midpelvis, which will allow the baby to begin their rotation into the pelvis.
Exaggerated Side-Lying: Upper Midpelvis Opener
Fire Hydrant: Upper Midpelvis Opener
3) Upright Positions
Upright positions can be anything you want that is upright, such as walking, elevated lunges, curb walking, or even deep squats.
These positions help the baby move down into the pelvis (and ideally are opening the pelvic level baby is trying to navigate), to apply more pressure against the cervix to continue the labor hormone feedback loop. So, although walking and curb walking wont put you into labor–if you are already in labor, it could help to progress your labor!
Myth Busted: Movement will NOT put you into labor
We all want that ONE movement or thing that will put us into labor, especially at the end of our pregnancy when we may be feeling more anxious about labor starting. Maybe you have an induction pending, or you are just tired of being pregnant.
Unfortunately, there is no movement that will cause your labor to begin–rather we can use movement during pregnancy to prepare us for birth by ensuring we can open each pelvic level, the pelvic floor is relaxed, and we have the stamina to meet the demands of our birth.
Movement, however, will help with labor progress when you are ALREADY in labor! So move as much as you can, even if you get an epidural!
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Movement during labor can help with your labor progress! But certain types of movements may be more beneficial than others depending on WHERE the baby is in the pelvis. Each pelvic level opens with different types of movements patterns, so we want to open the pelvic level based on which pelvic level baby is trying to currently navigate.
How do you know what position to do or where baby even is?? You can learn more in our childbirth education course! We break down each pelvic level, movements that open those levels, and movements you can do during pregnancy to prepare to open the pelvis!