All postpartum women benefit from pelvic floor physical therapy. Whether you are 3 weeks postpartum, or 1 year postpartum, or even 15 years postpartum...YOU CAN BENEFIT FROM SEEING A PELVIC FLOOR PHYSICAL THERAPIST!
Think about it...your body has spent 40 weeks developing a new human. Your body has gone through so many changes in terms of your posture, your abdominals and pelvic floor, how you breathe and move, and the position of your organs.
After you deliver, you start doing your typical daily activities again, except, all of a sudden, there is not a baby in your belly anymore. However, since there have been so many changes to your muscles, ligaments, fascia, and joints, your body actually adopts a different way of moving, whether it be picking up your toddler, or bending forward, or even standing and walking!
Here are a few anatomical things that change:
Your abdomen: the connective tissue and fascia in your belly is less elastic, lengthened, and not able to transfer forces/load as effectively
Your breathing pattern: as the baby grows, the diaphragm gets "squished" upwards into your rib cage. Even after you deliver, the diaphragm still stays "squished" up...so the way you breathe is different! Remember, if you can't breathe properly, the body can't function optimally.
Your pelvis position: to accommodate the growing uterus, the pelvic inlet (the top of the pelvic bowl) expands. This puts your pelvis in a more "external rotated" positioning, causing a domino effect down your hips, knees, and ankles. This changes how you will walk, squat, stand, and even sit.
All postpartum women experience some type of change in their body after delivery. While some are symptomatic, such as having urinary leakage or pelvic pain, many women aren't symptomatic (or in pain).
However, you don't need to be in a pain to seek a physical therapist or to ask your OB for a referral.
The goal of physical therapy isn't to relieve just your pain.
It is to optimize your movement! Optimize how you stand, sit, walk, run, jump, bend over, squat, lift, etc.
We move everyday!
So do yourself a favor...see a pelvic floor physical therapist for your overall well-being and health.
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