Postural Changes associated with Pregnancy Dissertation

Postural Changes associated with Pregnancy - Dissertation Example INTRODUCTION Posture is defined as the arrangement of body parts with reference to each other. Thus a good posture refers to the optimum alignment of musculoskeletal system so as to enable body movement with maximum efficiency (Britnell et al., 2005). Pregnancy brings about multiple changes in the women’s body affecting almost every biological system. While some of these changes go with pregnancy, others continue to affect for longer duration. There is an increase in body mass and dimensions with non-uniform distribution of both of these parameters. Thus the centre of gravity of the body and therefore, its equilibrium is disturbed and in order to regain it the body must lean backwards. The skeletal and muscular system of the women’s body undergoes several biomechanical changes to accommodate the growing uterus, maintain body balance and facilitate smooth delivery. Moreover the hormonal changes during pregnancy too affect the musculoskeletal system. Later weeks of pregna ncy are characterized by lordosis or a significantly increased curvature of the spine. Thus changes are observed in both the static and dynamic posture of the women during pregnancy. Along with these postural changes are observed discomforts such as low back pain which may or may not be associated with the postural changes. Moreover the postural changes have also been linked to increased vulnerability to fall incidences. Research has shown that the major postural adaptations associated with pregnancy include forward shift in centre of gravity, and subsequent anterior pelvic tilt, with some cases of lumbar lordosis and thoracic kyphosis. Approximately 75% of women exhibit a more posterior posture wherein the mass of the expanding uterus with the fetus is shifted posterior to the prior centre of gravity (Britnell et al., 2005). While pregnancy itself is associated with different levels of multiple discomforts both physical and mental, an understanding of the mechanism and nature of ch anges associated with pregnancy is imperative for developing measures to deal with these problems. This literature review aims to study the various aspects of postural changes associated with pregnancy. 2. PURPOSE Bipedalism is a distinguishing character of hominids and the human skeleton has developed several adaptations to enable it. One of the chief adaptations was an elongated lumbar region with both an increased length of individual vertebra and also increase in number of vertebra. Besides this, the lumbar vertebra are also arranged in a significantly concave curve, the feature being specifically termed as lumbar lordosis. As a consequence of lumbar lordosis the trunk’s centre of mass (COM) is shifted to a position above the hips thereby imparting stability to the upper part of body (Whitcome et al., 2007). The second major adaptation is sagittal pelvic tilt. Human posture and motion is thus defined by two biomechanical components responsible for imparting stability viz lumbar lordosis and sagittal pelvic tilt. However, pregnancy related marked changes in body shape and mass pose significant challenges to the bipedal stability (Whitcome et al.

Public Administration- Program Development Coursework

Public Administration- Program Development - Coursework Example purpose of the introduction of the Department of Human Resources in the company is to ensure that there is workforce diversity across all departments as the purpose of the department is always to ensure that all the matters regarding the employees as a company’s assets are taken care of. In this project that the introduction of the department is proposed, it is very important to ensure that the success or the level to which the initiative is effective is examined or evaluated. In this chapter, we are going to analyze the changes that are apparent in the introduction following the introduction of the department. This is going to be done by having the trend analysis of the average level of workforce diversity within the organization. This table shows an hypothetical trend analysis of the average level of workforce diversity for the company before and after the introduction or implementation of the department of human resources. In this hypothetical example, we find that the trend in the data shows that the workforce diversity ‘s level with the organization saw an increase from slightly to moderately during the two different periods of transition on average. However, the post data shows that the introduction of the Department of Human Resources greatly accelerated the rate of the increase to which the organization was becoming more diversity racially or ethnically. On top of reviewing the overall workforce diversity level for the organization, trend analysis can be done for individual departments. This analysis will help in examining the level or extend to which the individual departments have succeeded in hiring more qualified minority candidates and also the level to which they have been in rise in the overall workforce diversity level within their structures. In addition, the comparative trend analysis can be done to examine the performance across the departments. This can always be done both at micro and macro levels. The departments that have been chosen