Pelvic Floor Before And After Birth

Getting pelvic floor therapy before giving birth can appear to be an unnecessary or luxurious endeavour for most people.

Pelvic floor before and after birth.

This is the weakest area of the pelvic floor. Continued pelvic girdle pain. It is however very important in accessing and maintaining the strength of the muscles during and after birth. Ideally you will have been assessed during pregnancy to ensure that you are doing this correctly and you can simply pick up where you left off.

Your pelvic floor is the group of muscles and ligaments in your pelvic region the pelvic floor acts like a. If your birth was slightly more complicated and required an episiotomy forceps or ventouse then you may be more likely to feel the. The pelvic floor therapist can teach massage techniques that may ultimately keep you out of the therapist s office after you give birth. The urethra vagina and rectum pass through the pelvic floor in an area known as the levator hiatus.

Returning to sport or exercise after birth. The anal sphincter is a muscle that surrounds the back passage and is often regarded as part of the pelvic floor see figure 2. If you strengthen your pelvic floor then you will be helping to prevent or reduce the severity of incontinence. So it s no wonder that studies show an average of 25 35 reduction in pelvic floor strength following birth.

You can minimise the risk of these developing with some careful precautions. Pelvic floor dysfunction is the inability to control the muscles of your pelvic floor. Pelvic floor physical therapy what to expect if you are prescribed pelvic floor therapy or volunteer for it yourself here s what you can expect from a pelvic floor physical therapy session. If your baby s head presses on your pelvic bones a certain way during childbirth it may create a gap between two bones at the front of your pelvis.

The pelvic floor supports the uterus vagina bladder and rectum. Pelvic floor exercises can be restarted as soon as is comfortable after birth this could be in the first few days. It is not necessarily a requirement but it is a great indicator or guideline to postpartum occurrences. Having a well toned pelvic floor also enhances feeling in your vagina making sex and orgasm more satisfying sacomori and cardoso 2015.

If you perform pelvic floor exercises correctly they can help to protect you from leaking urine during pregnancy and also after your baby is born. Daily pelvic floor exercises help you to regain control of your bladder and bowel after your baby s birth macarthur and ismail 2014.