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Early Postpartum Tips for Pelvic Floor

Women’s health expert Physiotherapist Jenny Devlin gives insight on what you might expect from your postpartum body and the best approach to begin exercise and optimise your recovery

WRITTEN BY JENNY DEVLIN, MSK PHYSIOTHERAPIST AND SPECIALIST WOMEN’S HEALTH PHYSIOTHERAPIST AT PHYSIO EFFECT

So, you’ve just had a baby… CONGRATULATIONS!! 

The first days and weeks postpartum can be a blur and prioritizing pelvic floor exercises might not be at the forefront of everyone’s mind.  There are some things you can do, however, throughout the day to start working on your pelvic floor while also enjoying sweet baby cuddles.

 

BREATHE

Something that we do every day but often don’t do well.  Once we have had a baby our breathing is often altered as our baby has been taking up the space in our abdominal cavity and achieving a deep breath might have been tricky for the past few months. Remembering how to take deep breaths can help with the healing process. Our diaphragm and pelvic floor move together and as a result breathing deeply in can help relax and lengthen the pelvic floor muscles and conversely exhaling can help engage the same muscles.  

Women’s health Physiotherapist, Mariam Kilpatrick, educating a patient on diaphragmatic breathing.

Getting the muscle pump of the pelvic floor working can aid pelvic congestion and help heal the tissues through lymphatic drainage.

Deep breathing can also help us enter into ‘rest and digest’ mode which can help us feel calm and decrease anxiety and enjoy being present with our baby.

You can practice breathing anywhere but it might be easiest sitting or in a semi-reclined position.  Make sure you’re comfortable.  Inhale slowly through the nose, feeling the air fill the lungs and the pelvic floor lengthen.  Exhale gently through the mouth and feel the recoil of the tissues.  Keep your shoulders and jaw relaxed. You can learn more about the structures that make up your abdominal cannister, including your pelvic floor in our recent Blog Post.

 

Posture

Throughout the day, check in with your posture while sitting, standing and moving around.  Has your posture changed since having your baby? Can you find your way back to your previous position?

How we hold ourselves while feeding baby for many hours per day is important.  Make sure baby is supported to come up to you, so that you don’t have to hunch over to feed.  Try to maintain an upright posture for feeding as much as you can - it has an impact, not only on your back, neck and shoulders, but on your pelvic floor too! This NHS guide has ideas alternative breastfeeding positions from the commonly adopted ‘Cradle Hold.’

Caucasian woman breastfeeding her baby in a reclined position.

Image Credit: Shutterstock. Breastfeeding in a reclined position can ease the tension of a painful back and shoulders.

Have a think when you’re holding baby, are you always holding them on one side? Can you switch? Can you wear them for a while in a carrier instead of carrying them? Try placing your hands on your ribs and stacking them over your pelvis.

There are lots of little ways we can improve postures throughout the day to make our pelvic floor a little happier and function better too!

 

Pelvic Floor Exercises

Throughout the day try to practice a few pelvic floor muscle contractions. You may find it easier to do it lying down or in sitting.  Check in with yourself and see what you can feel.  You should be able to feel a gentle lift of the pelvic floor without your pelvis tilting and without your legs or bum muscles working hard. You should also be able to feel it relaxing. Try for some longer contractions and some short, fast ones too.

Women’s health Physiotherapist Mariam Kilpatrick demonstrating the ‘Butterfly’ Technique to connect with your pelvic floor.

 

Gentle Exercise

In the first days postpartum, take it easy.  No matter how your baby was born, the body goes through a lot to bring your little one into the world.  You might feel like you can do more exercise wise, but do you really need to? Give your body time to rest and recover and gradually build in your exercises.  The first days or weeks might start out just thinking about pelvic floor, core and posture and progress from there. We are all about getting you back to doing the things you LOVE so let’s make sure you’re doing them sequentially in a way that’s right for your body and will allow you to continue doing them long term!

Caucasian women and their babies in a group exercise Pilates class.

We offer ‘CryBaby Pilates’ classes in our Studio to women and their babies from 6 weeks postpartum.

 

See a Pelvic Floor Physiotherapist

Pelvic floor symptoms are common, but they are not normal!  We hear a lot of people normalizing pain or incontinence.  Often ladies don’t know there is help out there but there is level 1, grade A evidence to show that pelvic floor assessment and treatment can improve pelvic floor function.  Enjoy baby cuddles and gentle progressive exercises and anywhere from the 6 week mark, come and see us and have a pelvic floor evaluation so we can do an assessment, assist with any symptoms and help you work towards your goals, no matter what they are. 

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The Core

Think your core muscles are just a ‘six pack?’ You’re wrong! Learn more about your core and it’s importance in movement.

Written by Jenny Devlin, MSK Physiotherapist and Specialist Women’s Health Physiotherapist at Physio Effect

The Core

What do you think of when you hear the word ‘core’?

For most people, they think of the rectus abdominis muscles, or the “six pack muscles”, but the core is so much more than that!

The core is actually a full canister that comprises a top, bottom, front and back.  Respectively, these are:

  • The diaphragm

  • The pelvic floor

  • The transversus abdominis (deep stomach muscles)

  • The multifidus (deep back muscles)

 

Abdominal canister illustration courtesy of ‘The Wellness Blog for Women.’

 

These muscles work all the time to hold us upright and provide a base from which other muscles can operate.  People will often tell us they ‘have no core’ which simply can’t be true or they would be a floppy noodle! What they mean is that they have forgotten how to tune in to activate their core and the good news is that this can be trained.

Our core canister houses our fluid and organs and is responsible for controlling pressure within the system, namely intra-abdominal pressure (IAP).  IAP helps our ribs and spine stay in place and is the central mechanism from which we produce strength and stability.  Since the muscles surround the canister, they are in prime position to help to control the pressure. IAP changes to match the task we are looking to perform and without a strong inner unit, it is challenging to keep our bodies moving and functioning effectively.  

 
Female physiotherapist coaching a female patient on correct goblet squat technique.

At Physio Effect we can offer you a path back to exercise safely after pregnancy.

 

Why do i have weakness in my core?

There are many things which can contribute to the core functioning less optimally - it could be the way you train or perform your sport, from being overweight or just a lack of body awareness of how to engage the correct muscles. In particular, pregnancy can lead to dysfunction as the muscles have been stretched out over nine months to accommodate the baby and then afterwards we often just hope they will go back to doing what they did before. Strength and coordination often need to be retrained and, while traditional abdominal exercises are great, it is important to ensure we have the deep core muscles working efficiently before we layer on the larger muscle groups.  When we don’t have good core control, it can lead to injuries anywhere in the body such as the low back or the shoulder. 

It is normal to have a diastasis rectus abdominus (abdominal separation) following pregnancy but when the pressure is not well controlled, we see doming at the linea alba (midline connective tissue). If we can work to control the IAP with the core muscles, we can minimise this doming and increase overall strength and performance since we are not losing pressure at our core canister.  

 

Illustration of Abdominal Separation courtesy of Cleveland Clinic.

 

What can I do to strengthen my core?

It is important to spend time connecting to the core and learning how to coordinate the breath, pelvic floor and deep abdominal and low back muscles before adding more challenging exercises to your program.  Our physiotherapists can provide you with some targeted core exercises that are specific to your needs. You could also consider our Clinical Pilates, Pregnancy Pilates or Postpartum Pilates Classes to strengthen your core.

To find out more, give us a call or book in online.

Book now
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