Motherhood and Sports

On the 28th of January, 2017, at the clay courts of Australian Open Tennis, Serena Williams beat her sister Venus Wiliams in straight sets to lift her seventh Australian Open and her 23rd Grand Slams title. Guess what? She did it while being eight weeks pregnant. Seven months after giving birth to a beautiful daughter, Serena Williams was again back to the game, this time at the French Open. And needless to say, Mother Williams was as good as ever, and she beat her opponent in straight sets to move forward in the game. The astounding truth here is that Williams played 4 Grand Slam titles within ten months of her postpartum. Mary Kom’s story is closer to home. Mother to three children, Kom is the only boxer to have won eight World Championships.

The recent stories about women athletes having a family and continuing their careers have come to the forefront. So, what does it mean to be a mother and a sportswoman?

Every athlete dreams of a long and successful sprint, from one title to another. But often, those ambitions don’t align with the reality of an intense sporting career. Injuries, rehabilitation and the massive pressures of tournament schedules. Every athlete has to balance their share of problems, but women athletes seem to have it worse.

The optimal fertile age of women coincides with their peak performance in athletic careers. Since professional athletes are increasingly continuing to stay on the track up until their late thirties and early forties, they must not be forced to choose between motherhood and an ambitious career.

Childbearing and pregnancies bring about massive physical and physiological transformations to a woman’s body. Even for normal women or recreational athletes, these changes are difficult to adapt to. Around 28-30 weeks of pregnancy, relaxations in the pelvis region are associated with a forward tilt of the pelvis, changing the centre of gravity, to which the body responds by pitching forward. These physical changes in the pelvic region are quite the setbacks to women athletes who are trying to maintain their competitive levels.

For elite athletes, the advanced stages of pregnancy directly translate to an interruption in their training schedules. Different kinds of sports make different demands from an athlete; they could vary depending on the length of the training schedule, percent of muscle mass use, aerobic needs, combative or non-combative etc. Hence, the impact of prolonged absence from training will also hit differently. In addition to this, athletes from individual sports and team sports have different scenarios to deal with. In individual sports, athletes have a greater degree of freedom to choose the extent of their maternity leave, the schedules, among other choices. However, the team players need to align their decisions along with the team management and club policies.

Women looking forward to returning to the sporting arena usually make efforts to stay active during pregnancy. A regular amount of basic exercises will help them in a quicker return to sport after childbirth. Adjusting to training schedules after pregnancy is usually affected by breastfeeding and recovery from childbirth. In a study that investigated 40 Norwegian elite athletes, 38% of the athletes returned to jogging within the first 6 weeks of postpartum. However, the loss of calcium from the maternal body due to breast milk production often leads to an increased risk of fragility fractures. In the general female population, lower back pain, pelvic girdle pain (PGP) and pelvic floor dysfunction are common conditions that accompany pregnancy. These conditions are not life-threatening per se, however, they are known to cause a reduced quality of life and decreased participation in physical activities. Elite female athletes can utilise strategies like pelvic floor muscle training and specific stabilizing exercises to prevent such complications. Studies have revealed how this training has boosted the overall physical strength and prevented urinary incontinence, which is quite a prevalent condition in postpartum.

According to the American College of Obstetrics and Gynecology (ACOG), as much of the physiological and morphological changes of pregnancy persist for 4–6 weeks postpartum, therefore it is recommended to defer from restarting strenuous physical activity until 6 weeks postpartum. But these six-week windows are just “arbitrary guidelines” and athletes can make choices about returning by themselves. If athletes are able to continue exercising at a moderate level throughout gestation then their maximal aerobic capacity after childbirth is predicted to return to their pre-pregnancy levels.

Exercises after childbirth have always been correlated with positive outcomes in both non-athletes and athletes. It helps to reduce the risk of postpartum depression and assists in weight loss. However, strenuous exercises might be detrimental to the pelvic floor muscles which generally take six months to a year to fully heal and recover.

The recovery from childbirth is also subjected to variations at an individual level. Some recoveries might be more complex and prolonged reclaiming the fact that there is no rule set in stone deciding when an athlete must return to sport after having a baby.

Women are motivated to return to the tracks for a multitude of reasons. They look forward to continuing with their passion for the game and to prove to themselves and their fans, how they are still competitive in their careers.

Sometimes, it is the culture and not the body that makes taxing demands from a women athlete. In a survey conducted to learn about elite mother athletes who decided to make a comeback to sports, the participants reported that it was the prevailing norms and culture that determined what behaviours and attitudes are appropriate for mothers, more than one’s physiological needs.

The transition to motherhood is not a solitary moment in a woman’s career. Instead, it can be imagined to be a part of a long process that starts before pregnancy and continues till a new identity of motherhood is established in the athlete. These pre-pregnancy, pregnancy and the returning to competitive sports phase are intertwined.