You just birthed a human being! It is standard practice to see a Physical Therapist 2-3x/week after a knee replacement. Why is this not the standard after giving birth?!
Your pelvic floor contains many muscles impacted during childbirth and your abdominal muscles are impacted after a cesarean birth just as the muscles in your leg are impacted after a knee replacement.
Your brain needs to learn to communicate efficiently with these muscles again to avoid symptoms like back pain, hip pain, sacroiliac pain, leakage, etc. We can help!
There is no need to wait until 6 weeks postpartum to seek care. Low level muscle activation exercises can be taught as early as 2 weeks postpartum to begin the recovery process!
Postpartum PT expectations
During the early phases of the postpartum period, it is important to retrain the proper function of the deep core region (your diaphragm, abdominal muscles, pelvic floor muscles, and back muscles). This involves breathing exercises, feedback to ensure proper abdominal muscle and pelvic floor activation, and exercises to help improve the stability of your midline.
As your brain is able to communicate with the deep core again (this time frame will look different for everyone) exercises will then be progressed to help meet your specific goals. This could be anything from running, to CrossFit, to boot camp classes, to general strength and conditioning, and so much more!
The goal during these progressions is to learn how to manage the pressure naturally created in our abdominal region during movements to reduce/eliminate symptoms including leaking, pelvic pain, and/or the feeling of heaviness (just to name a few).
Don’t settle for postpartum physical therapy to end as soon as you’re able to breathe properly and activate your deep core. This is just the beginning!
To learn more about these services and to schedule an appointment visit here
