Promoting Stretching Exercise to Reduce Cardiovascular Health Risk in Late Pregnant Women With Obesity

The purpose of this trial is to determine whether a stretching intervention is superior to a usual care control condition (moderate/vigorous activity 30 minutes daily, 5 days per week) for pregnant women from 27 to 37 gestational weeks.

Although being sedentary can lead to excess risk for maternal and child mortality and morbidity, most pregnant women reduce their physical activity and only 8% meet the recommendations in the 3rd trimester. In a prior randomized control trial, it was found that fewer women who stretched developed preeclampsia than did women who walked (3/60 "stretchers" vs. 10/64 "walkers", p=.05). In this study, participants will either receive a stretching intervention