Preparing Your Pelvic Floor for Birth and Recovery

Your pelvic floor group of muscles are carrying some of the extra load of pregnancy and although you may have heard about pelvic floor exercises, do you know for sure that you are doing the exercises correctly?
Or have you not started yet, due to ....not knowing their importance, .....not having time, .....being unsure that you are working the muscles correctly?

There are many reasons women over the years haven’t done their exercises “enough”, or “as many as I should be doing”.

Would you like to be one of the confident women who does know how well her muscles are working?

Individual Physiotherapy appointments in pregnancy will help you to:

know your pelvic floor better
learn more about where it is and what it does
find and feel the muscles and learn about ways to exercise them during and after pregnancy
be confident in your technique
be aware of any warning signs of wrong technique or problems with your pelvic floor
regain control after the birth over your bladder, when you cough, sneeze, laugh, lift and exercise

In Mandurah, Women's Health Physiotherapy appointments are available at Mandurah Pelvic Health.

Find out if you are doing your pelvic floor exercises well, including having the ability to know and to connect well with your muscles during pregnancy. This can help your postnatal recovery.
We look for any breath holding patterns, or also any body tension that is impacting your pelvic floor function.
We will help you to know your pelvic floor baseline fitness level and what areas of improvement may be needed, so that you can focus your attention on the specific parts of pelvic floor fitness that you need, both now in pregnancy and to help you to prepare your pelvic floor for birth and recovery.

There is not a “one size fits all” pelvic floor program, so individual Women's Health Physiotherapy appointments help you to build the skills in the areas of pelvic floor fitness and awareness that you need so that you know what to work on during your pregnancy and as you plan for your postnatal recovery.

**If you have a caesarean, or are planning one, your pelvic floor is still affected by the hormones and changes of pregnancy, so paying attention to it now enhances your recover after baby is born.

Is your pelvic floor too loose, too tight or just right? Do you know?

Where does your pelvic floor sit?

Is it pelvic floor fit? Does it do its’ job well now, for example holding on when you cough, sneeze, laugh, and when you have a full bladder and need to wait to get to the toilet.

Can you feel your pelvic floor muscles working well? Some women find that it can still be difficult to feel their pelvic floor. There are a number of reasons for this. Think about Goldilocks and the three Bears. Goldilocks went through a number of things – including “too hard” and “too soft”. This can be applied to your pelvic floor too, as we want it to be in what US based Ob/Gyn Dr Sara Gottfried calls “The Goldilocks Position” when she talks about women’s hormones.

We want your pelvic floor to be in the “not too tight”, “not too loose”, but just right position. Having a Women's Health Physiotherapy appointment will help you to discover and check your level of pelvic floor fitness and control.

If your pelvic floor is being held “too tight” then it may have become stiff and tight and then when you try to lift your pelvic floor – it doesn’t move much, as it already in its tightened position. This can happen due to continually tightening the pelvic floor and not relaxing it, from over activity from some abdominal exercises or from a pre existing issue. Learning to relax and then contract your pelvic floor well prior to the birth is going to help it to “give more” during the birth. If you think or know that you have this problem, seek further advice from a professional such as a physiotherapist working in women’s health, for a pelvic floor check.

If your pelvic floor is “too loose”, this can cause problems with bladder control. If you have been pregnant before and your muscles are not fully recovered, or if you didn’t get the time to do your exercises, then having a Women's Health Physiotherapy appointment can help you to improve your pelvic floor fitness during this pregnancy before you give birth again.

If your muscles have been stretched from straining, heavy lifting or incorrect exercise practices, there are ways to check that you are indeed working the correct muscles.

Find a physiotherapist who is working in the area of pregnancy and postnatal and pelvic health to help you on your pregnancy journey.