FTV Exercise during pregnancy and charlatans attacking C-sections

FTV This week I am a little bit upset.

Not about the first subject which follows a question about what type of exercise, and at which intensity, is safe to do during pregnancy. That's a great question and a doddle to answer :)

But I'm upset about the single worst Instagram video I have seen from someone working with babies. Here it is for those of you who want to have a look.

The Osteopath in the video is making LOADS of dumb, and I do mean idiotic, claims about the effects of a C-section on a baby's spine and it's health.

He claims the "lumbar spine is reversed" or "missing" and that is clearly complete and utter nonsense. But the video has 400k likes and this grifter has 600k followers.

So I go over some of the idiotic claims people make online to scare those of you wanting, or needing, a C-section into parting with your money.

And then there's a bit of jazz to calm me down :)

As always; HPNB still only has 5 billing cycles!

So this means that you not only get 3 months FREE access, no obligation!

BUT, if you decide you want to do the rest of the program, after only 5 months of paying $10/£8 a month you now get FREE LIFE TIME ACCESS! That's $50 max spend, in case you were wondering.

This means you can sign up after your first child, use the program and recover and then still have access after giving birth to child 2 and 3!

None of this "pay X amount a year" nonsense, once you've paid..you've paid!

This makes HPNB not just the most efficient and complete post-partum recovery program, it's also BY FAR the best value.

Though I'm not terribly active on  Instagram and Facebook you can follow us there. I am however active on Threads so find me there!

And, of course, you can always find us on our YouTube channel if you like your podcast in video form :)

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We're played out today by; Ryan Saranich with "Sentimental"

Transcript

Welcome And Why This Rerun

Peter 0:00

Hey, welcome to the Healthy Postnatal Body Podcast. He's a postnatal expert Peter Map Plat. As always, would be me. This is the podcast for the 22nd of March 2026. And apologies for last week, I was terribly ill. And I don't I don't re pre-record these things too far in the future. So we didn't get one out. But here we are, Peter at healthypostnatalbody.com. We're doing uh a from the vault today because we've got loads of fresh stuff coming up. We're talking exercise during pregnancy and charlatans attacking c-sections. Uh they're just scaring you into not having the c-sections and sort of uh um yeah, just trying to scare you into natural births and all that sort of stuff. This is I'm bringing this episode out again because this was in the news quite a bit this week. Uh, this is one of the osteopath um guys on Instagram that that that shot a video. He's working with babies, it's a terrible, terrible, terrible thing. I will link to it in the podcast description. Too long didn't read. Don't worry about c-sections and complications for the baby with regards to natural birth versus c-section. But you know, if you want to listen to as to why people like this should be stopped. And why you have nothing to worry about, then keep on listening. So without further ado, here we go. Peter at healthyplostnatobody.com. By the way, if you have any questions or comments, uh I finally got that in. I am here with little Dingy who's snoring on the bed. So that's the snorty noises you hear. There's nothing I can do about it. You know the rules with regards to Kitty. She shall not be disturbed. She's painful enough. She gets to sleep in peace. Uh Lola is also here, just being a general pain in the bum, and buddy's pottering for the house somewhere. Um, so today I am doing exercise during pregnancy. Let's type with that. Uh, I was I was sent a video um on the from the internet about some woman being highly pregnant doing a dance routine. And the poster said, is this is this safe to do or not? Right? And that brought me back to this nice, easy subject. This won't take long, trust me. What can you do? It's it's high intensity exercise, and this was just a normal dance routine, so not that high intensity. Uh, is that safe during pregnancy? The answer is almost inevitably yes, right? Anything you used to do when you were not pregnant, you could probably do when you were pregnant, unless you know you you've lost your range of motion and all that sort of stuff, especially aerobic exercise such as dancing. What we try to do, we try to limit the exertion level to uh about a seven out of ten, some say. So you don't go, uh, as we used to say in the olden days, balls to the wall anymore, right? You don't go 10 out of 10 so that you're breathing, you really just completely shut it. You'll try to limit that a little bit. But other than that, you can do whatever you want. You can you can do squats, you can do lunges, you can do heavy weight lifting, you can do jogging, you can do swimming and all that sort of stuff. There is really no reason for you to limit uh what you're doing. What you don't necessarily want to do is go from a completely sedentary um, that's my chair creaks, to go from a completely sedentary lifestyle to a very active lifestyle. Um that is a slightly different different beast, and you want to build that up a little bit, just so you don't overdo it, right? But that kind of goes for everybody who starts an exercise routine, right? You don't want to go from being completely sedentary to all of a sudden running a marathon on the Sunday, right? Slowly so the catchy monkey and all that sort of thing. And that is that is kind of all, but everything else you can you can you can just do. Right? I I've had and I've I know I've given this example before, but for new listeners, I've had a client who squatted 100 kg uh the day before she was due to give birth from twins. The day before she gave birth to twins, because it went by z-section, and uh she squatted 100 kg just because she wanted to show that she uh see that she could do it, and that was because she'd already squatted 100 kg before, it was no problem at all. You inhale, you squat and you exhale. Now, to be fair, her bump didn't go all the way to the ground, but that was more of a space for a range of motion sort of issue, right? That is the sort of thing that usually is the limiting factor when it comes to exercise during pregnancy, is that you just um don't have the room to maneuver anymore, so to speak. Uh, not as much room to maneuver, or it's a bit more difficult. We tend to also avoid, uh I should say this little caveat. We tend to also avoid exercises where you're lying on your back during the last uh last trimester, just for safety purposes. You know, it's the same reason that you don't sleep on your back. It's it's the same thing, not that there's any real high risk associated with it. Uh we just kind of don't do it anymore. But a safe and sorry type of approach. Uh, other than that, you can do whatever you want. In fact, we find, and when I say we, as in all the professionals in the world put together, find that uh women who exercise during the pregnancy have a significantly easier postpartum recovery than women who are not able to exercise uh during the pregnancy. Because we have to remember that not everybody's able to exercise during pregnancy, right? I am only talking about people who are capable of doing so, right? If your doctor tells you you need to um have bad rest, then for the vast majority of your pregnancy, then that is of course what you need to do. And there's like I said, exercise during pregnancy makes postpartum recovery easier, but it doesn't mean you can't recover postpartum if uh if you haven't exercised during the pregnancy, right? Just so that that's very, very clear. It may doing the right type of exercises, things like wood choppers and squats and lunges and all that sort of stuff, step ups, things that basically keep your core going and keep your glutes going and all that type of fun stuff. Um they will help your postpartum recovery, keeping your breathing right during pregnancy, all that that core breath and all that sort of thing that I bang on about a lot in the HP and B program. And just you know, look up one of the videos, it's on it's on YouTube. Um if you keep breathing like that during your pregnancy, it makes it postpartum recovery also a little bit easier from a muscular perspective, right? When it comes to diastatis rectum and all that sort of stuff. Uh so yeah, there you go. You can basically do whatever you want. Now, I came across um potentially the dumbest video I've ever seen by a guy called Nikon Nikone Osteo. Um, I am very careful when it comes to chiropractors and osteopaths and all that type of stuff. Um I know as in I don't dislike them all, I respect some of them. I had Nigel Breyer on not that long ago, and he's a he's a chiropractor. Um, and I've done interviews with them before, and and and some of them are really, really good at what they do. Unfortunately, much like the health and fitness field, to be honest, outside the medical community, much like the health and fitness field in in general, it is full of grifters, it is full of people who say things that kind of sound like they make sense and and they really just don't. So I will see if I can play a little video here, but basically, the guy is saying um that's very common during c-sections, after c-sections, that the lower back is now not aligned and that the skull and the spine are not uh aligned properly. The lower back is not engaged, and the lower, there's no lumbar reflex, they are put in place, as he says, when the baby goes out through the uh vaginal, through through the purpose canal, right? And in C-sections, apparently the baby, the lumbar reflex is not in place, and he and his argument is in he's reversed, so he doesn't have an arching back and an arching reflex, and he keeps putting his legs up, right? And it makes everything more difficult, swallowing and blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah. Right, and like I said, I will I will try to I will link to the thing, it's just easier if you just link to the thing. Give him a give him a click, and you'll be shocked at some of the comments on that on that thread about on that post uh by people who think this guy is a genius. But let's be very clear. There is zero uh first of all, you can't there's no such thing as not having a lumbar spine. That's literally what he says. The child does not have a lumbar spine. That is not a thing. You don't have part of your spine missing just because your mom gave birth through C-section. Right? The spine doesn't magically appear through the birthing canal. There is also zero evidence, zero evidence that you can't re this is how upset I am about this. You cannot reverse the lumbar spine, the region of the spine. That makes sense, right? If I said that about any other bone in the body, you just go, oh, it's idiotic. If I said, ah, when you uh when you're born through a C-section, then uh your left leg will be reversing, your foot will be pointing backwards. You'd think I was an idiot, right? I hope you'd think I was an idiot. But that's fundamentally what this guy is saying for the spine. That that is just not it's just not a thing. And I I know there is the there are a lot of chiropractor as well, because this guy is an osteopath, you know, the level of quackery in this guy's post is is astonishing. But there are also um a lot of chiropractors out there that make claims that say that oh you need to have a little adjustment when your baby is born and all that sort of stuff, because of the birth trauma, the trauma of giving birth, and and some of them will slag off um uh some people within c-sections, because there is of course, as I did an episode about a while ago, uh about this a few weeks ago, where they are um right there's still stigma around c-sections, and you know, one of them here, and and I will again I will um yeah, I will make sure that I will can I post that can I post that? Can I uh I don't know if I can attach stuff to the to the thing, but basically they're saying how does C-section affects baby's health, blah blah blah. The rate of right, so here the rate of cesarean section delivered deliveries has skyrocketed over the past several decades. Not surprising, the rate of chronic immune disorders, asthma allergies, type 1 diabetes, and irritable bound cell has also increased significantly. During a C-section, the amount of pressure on a baby's neck is significantly increased. This pressure can cause the bones to shift out of alignment, putting pressure on the baby's nervous system. See what they did there? They they they just went from a C-section causes chronic immune disorders, asthma allergies, allergies. You don't have allergies because your neck is slightly put under slightly slight pressure, right? It's it's yeah, God help me when I see that. And how can prior chiropractor help? And then they say, Oh, you know, the mom's pelvis is in the right, we'll put the right mom's pelvis in the right position to prepare for birth. And basically, they say you need to get one before you give birth, as if it's somehow your fault that you can't give birth. Actually, right, the the baby is not coming out the normal way. That's because your pelvis isn't aligned. This is this, and and that could have been prevented. This is not true. This is just pardon my French. By removing sacral imbalances, we decrease the likelihood that mum may need a c-section. There is no evidence of this, none, absolutely zero. I can't hammer this point home enough, right? So another one, whole family chiropractic, who are also a bunch of charlatans. Um they say uh that ADD, ADHD, or learning difficulties are caused by the bonds being misaligned because of C-sections and birth trauma. That is just not these people need to be shot. They need to be put up against the wall and shot. They are preying on people's insecurities, on women's insecurities, and they say pay us a lot of money and and we'll let our quackery handle this. Right? None of this stuff is true. Absolutely none of it. These people are completely and utterly full of it. And this is really important to understand because when I did the episode about C-sections a while ago, like I said, a month ago, I'll link to it. I just scrolled three or four episodes back, it wasn't that long ago. I made it very clear the vast majority of C-sections are medically scheduled, right? So 33 in the US, 33% of all C all births are C-sections. In the UK, or at least in England, it's slightly higher. Uh, but about 10-15% of those are elected, apparently, uh, elective uh C-sections. So basically you plan it ahead. And the rest of them are just medically necessary. Just good ideas to do it. And as I always say, you listen to your doctor, right? These people are just trying to scare you into saying that, well, if you're one of the 80 odd percent of c-sections that happen that have to happen, because you know your doctor says so. Um, then first of all, your baby will suffer unless you pay us loads of money. And you could have prevented this by paying us loads of money to align your pelvis. It is just like do you listen? Do you hear what I'm saying? Realigning your pelvis by by cracking things and and now just just no, and I know that I'm waffling here. It's just it's so difficult to not swear when I to when I see this stuff. It is it is mind-boggling to me that these charlatans are allowed to practice and allow are allowed to say these things online without getting sued. Your baby does not have attention deficit disorder because she had a C-section. There is no evidence of this, and this type of chiropractor needs to be shot down, shut down, or shot down in the street, like the salvages that they are. Um I I feel so strongly about this. Um like I said, I don't mind all chiropractors, in the same way that I don't mind all personal trainers, and um but the field is riddled, riddled with breathers, and I suppose there is an element of that that you get that, right? With with people chiropractors was invented by a guy who said a ghost came to him and and and showed him how to do chiropractoring. Um, so you have to really understand that you know the whole field is built on a foundation of charlatan uh charlatans, charlatanry, whatever the term is, a term is based on on rather iffy iffy ground. But there are a lot of people, uh a lot of chiropractors that that chiropractors and osteos, I suppose, that have studied this for three or four years, uh that that studied their field for three or four years and and that are trying to do the right thing. But they're the woo and the nonsense runs so deep through um through that particular field. That it's really it's the I am in the field of the they're not doctors, right? They're not doctors. If you if you are chiropractor, you're not a doctor. In the same way, you know, I technically you might have a degree and that allows you to call call yourself a doctor, but uh in the same way that my PhD allows me to call myself doctor, but mine is not in a health-related field, and therefore I don't use a title, right? And I think that's where chiropractors fall as well. It's not a medical medical field at all. Um, and and therefore they they should really stop that nonsense. Anyways, that's my rambling done. Have your c-sections. If you need to have a c-section, have a c-section. If you want to have a c-section, have a c-section. There is no evidence at all that your baby's lumbar spine will fall out when you have a c-section, that your baby's spine will be reversed. What that what does that even mean? It'll be reversed, anyways. This is a short episode because I'm just I'm I'm lit, I'm I'm boiling. I'm so angry. Uh, Peter at healthypostnasalbody.com. Next week I have a wonderful interview with Sari Rose Baron. Um, and we're talking uh postpartum mental health and how your trauma affects your bay, uh you raising your baby and all that sort of and raising your child and all that sort of stuff. A wonderful, wonderful episode. You're gonna love, love her. Um and then after that, hopefully, I will do some more questions and and all that sort of thing. Uh, so Peter at healthy postnatal body.com, and hopefully I will stay nice and calm. Right? You take care of yourself. Bye now.