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Our programme provides you with exercise videos and useful resources to refer to during your pregnancy and after you have had your baby. We hope you will find the programme useful and that we can help encourage you to stay fit and well during this important time. Our website has been updated so that you can self-screen to ensure you are medically fit to exercise. Please refer to How To Use WEPP for further details.
WEPP was created by pelvic health physiotherapists to provide easy access to safe and effective exercise videos and useful resources during and after pregnancy. It is a free programme to encourage you to stay fit and well and there is something suitable for everybody including complete beginners to exercise.
Our WEPP team is ever expanding and we always welcome new ideas. If there is something you would like to see please get in touch by emailing uhsussex.wepp@nhs.net.
Founder and WEPP Lead, Andrea qualified as a physiotherapist in 2004 and trained as a pregnancy yoga teacher in 2011. She loves running, yoga, comedy and relaxing with family and friends.
Bella is WEPP's Creative Director. She qualified as a physiotherapist in 2004 and has specialised in Pelvic Health Physiotherapy for the last 16 years. She likes surfing, pole fitness, handstand classes, yoga and family holidays.
Nicole originally qualified as a nurse in 2003 and a midwife in 2005. She went on to qualify as a personal trainer in 2014. When her busy life personal training and working as a midwife allows, Nicole loves to relax with a good book.
Annie has been working in the NHS since 1985 and is a Nurse, Midwife and Counsellor. She has been a Midwife Counsellor for around 10 years - which she loves. She enjoys walking her two labradors, spending time with family and friends, and loves a nice glass of red!
Jasmine has been working as a Pelvic Health physiotherapist for the last 10 years and teaching Pilates for the last 12 years. Her hobbies include cold water swimming, cycling, hiking and English wine making.
Sharon qualified as a midwife in 1988. She also qualified as a yoga teacher five years ago and she has been teaching pregnancy yoga for the last two years. She likes walking, live music, good books and good food.
Georgina qualified as a physiotherapist in 2007 and has been working in Pelvic Health physiotherapy since 2014. Her hobbies include reading novels, going to the cinema and theatre, running and cooking.
Catherine qualified as a physiotherapist in 1983 and became a specialist Pelvic Health Physiotherapist in 1997. She favours a holistic approach to Pelvic Health physiotherapy.
Sara qualified as a physiotherapist in 2000, specialising in Pelvic Health Physiotherapy since 2010. In her spare time she enjoys pottery, cycling, boxing, yoga and cold water swimming.
Kerri qualified as physiotherapist in 2013 and has specialised in Pelvic Health over the last few years. Her hobbies include sea swimming, dinners and dancing with friends, theatre and musicals, and entertaining her toddler!
Lynn qualified as physiotherapist in 1996. She has been a Pelvic Health physiotherapist for 23 years and has also been teaching Pilates for over 20 years. She likes festivals, weekend breaks, yoga and walking her dog.
Our exercise videos can be used at any point in your pregnancy after you have completed our self-screening for exercise section. If you have any concerns please contact your healthcare professional.
If you are unable to exercise at present, we have a number of resources which may be helpful to you. These include Spotlight On videos, rest and relaxation audios, frequently asked questions (FAQs) section and a Useful Resources section.
After you have had your baby please wait until you have had your GP check to continue or start the exercise videos. You will need to check your suitability to exercise with your GP if you have any health concerns.
As well as keeping physically fit during pregnancy and after you have had your baby it is important that you do not forget about your mental health. Stress, anxiety and depression are common complaints during pregnancy and the postnatal period. The good news is that there is evidence that relaxation techniques can reduce stress levels in pregnancy. This can lead to more positive birth outcomes and development of your growing baby.
Regular relaxation can be a fantastic way of taking time out to connect with your baby. We have created rest and relaxation audios which are short enough to fit into your day whenever you have a spare five or ten minutes.
We hope you enjoy these rest and relaxation audios. Please send us your feedback by emailing us at uhsussex.wepp@nhs.net.
Rest and Relaxation Audio
The general advice is that if you are already exercising you can continue to keep up your exercise routine for as long as you feel comfortable. If you are new to exercise you should start gradually with 15 minutes three times a week working up to 30 minutes daily. If you can, start with pregnancy specific exercise classes, low impact cardiovascular exercise or supervised resistance training. Tell your exercise instructor you are pregnant if the class is not pregnancy specific. Avoid anything high impact or high intensity if you are not used to it.
Sit ups place a lot of pressure on your lower back and are usually not recommended in pregnancy. The sit up movement also stresses the main abdominal muscle and this can lead to a gap forming between the muscle bellies called a diastasis. Pressure on the pelvic floor muscles can also lead to an increased risk of pelvic organ prolapse.
Yes but there are certain poses that you should adapt or avoid if they make your symptoms worse especially those with a wide legged stance such as triangle pose or warrior pose. Your yoga teacher will advise you but the general rule is listen to your body and avoid poses which do not feel right.
Diastasis recti is short for diastasis rectus abdominis muscles (DRAM) and refers to a gap of more than 2cm between the two sides of the rectus abdominis or 'six pack' muscle. You may notice a coning or a doming between the muscle bellies. Often this gap will naturally reduce after you have had your baby but if you are worried you may need to seek help from your pelvic health physiotherapist. Please see our Spotlight On video for further information about diastasis recti.
Most women will see a big improvement after the birth of their baby and in some cases have no symptoms at all. If you continue to experience pain please seek a referral or self-refer to your pelvic health physiotherapy team.
We are always looking for ways to improve WEPP. In order to help us to do this we would appreciate your time to complete this short user survey based on your experience using WEPP exercise videos and
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