Table 3.

Activities to avoid during pregnancy

	Guidelines
	Australia	Canada	Denmark	France	Japan	Norway	Spain	United Kingdom	United States (ACOG)	United States (USDHHS)
General Activities to Avoid:
Abdominal trauma or pressure	blunt trauma	fetal trauma	X	X	X		X
Altitude		X				X		X	X
Contact or collision sports	X	X	X	X	X	4–6 months	X	X	X	X
Excessive body heat	X					X
Excessive joint stress		X		X			X
Falls or fall-related sports	X	X		X	X	X	X		X	X
Hot or humid weather	hot conditions	especially in first trimester			X	X	X	X
High impact		X		X	X		X
High loads during strengthening						X
Hyperthermia							X	X
Sedentary								X
Standing, motionless						X			X
Supine position (lying on back)	not after the first trimester	not after 16 weeks; modify position	use a seated position during strength training		not after 16 weeks	not after 16 weeks		not after 16 weeks	not after the first trimester	not after the first trimester
Uneven load during stretching		stretch with controlled movements				X	avoid extreme positions
Vigorous intensity activities		no training for athletic competition	if not done before pregnancy		implied based on Borg scale	implied based on Borg scale	no more than 15 minutes per session			if not already highly active or doing vigorous intensity activity
Examples of Specific Activites to Avoid:
Basketball					X				X	X
Bicycling outdoors	X	X						X
Combat sports (e.g., boxing, karate)							X
Floor or roller hockey							X
Gymnastics		X		X	X	X		X	X
Horseback riding		X	X		X	X		X	X	X
Ice hockey		X				X	X	X	X
Isometric exercises		X
Mountain biking			X
Mountain climbing					X
Race car driving							X
Racquet sports, vigorous				X					X
Rugby							X
Running, long distance			X
Scuba diving		X		X	X	X	X	X	X
Surfing							X
Skating						X
Skiing			X
Skiing, downhill	X	X				X	X	X	X	X
Skiing, water					X		X
Soccer							X		X	X
Volleyball					X