Pregnant Waddlers 3D-Mapped by Scientists Just Like Movie Star Jar Jar Binks

During the study, researchers used several infrared cameras to observe how eight pregnant women and seven non-pregnant women move their bodies in different mundane, routine ways, including "standing from a chair, picking up plates, and walking forward after turning to the right." The women wore skin-tight, non-reflective outfits and had reflective markers attached to different parts of their bodies. The result was the first biomechanical model of pregnant women, which will serve as a jumping-off point for further studies on how to make pregnancy safer and more comfortable.

The research could also have implications for establishing better policies that protect pregnant women. "Pregnancy involves an altered center of gravity, hormone-induced ligamentous laxity [loose ligaments], and other changes that affect balance and mobility," said Dr. Wendy Chavkin, a professor obstetrics and gynecology at Columbia University's Mailman School of Public Health. "Occupational and women's health physicians have long advocated for work accommodations that are responsive to these temporary changes."

And anyway, pregnant women want to know more about the waddle that they have seen, experienced, and heard rumors of. "I am not waddling yet," one expectant mother wrote online, "not that I want to." She asked her community if they waddle. "I've been waddling for a good long time," one waddler wrote. Another chimed in to say she had begun to waddle because it was "about all I can do," because of the severe pelvic pain she was experiencing.

Dr. Sireesha Reddy is a professor of obstetrics and gynecology at Texas Tech University's Health Sciences Center. "It is helpful to know that there is scientific evidence to support that postural instability occurs," she said in an interview with Broadly. The changes that women experience in their skeleton and pelvis during pregnancy are partially caused by weight gain and hormonal changes, she explained. According to Reddy, there are orthopedic changes that result from the "change in center of gravity" that Chavkin mentioned—joints are subject to increased pressure, for example. The abdominal muscles can also be pulled apart by a developing fetus. This separation "prevents a neutral posture and increases muscle strain," Reddy said. But the greatest factor contributing to the waddle is the widened stance that women adopt "to maintain trunk movement."

Because women have up to a 27 percent chance of falling at least once during pregnancy, research like Hiroshima University's 3D-mapping project will help women deal with specific problems as well as give them a better understanding of the changes their bodies are going through. "Imaging could assist perhaps identifying when pregnant women would be at the greatest risk for falls based on physical evidence," Reddy said.