Every woman should have their pelvic floor and core evaluated by a trained physical therapist after delivering a baby. Even if it was a cesarean, because let’s face it, carrying an additional 25-50 lbs (or more!) for a couple of months can put some real pressure on a woman’s bottom.
Your Pelvic Floor- What is it?
The pelvic floor is a group of muscles and connective tissue that sits at the bottom of the pelvis. It works together with the diaphragm and deep core muscles to provide stability to our trunks and hold us upright. Imagine a skeleton for a second- just a bunch of bones held up by a hook in the skull :). How the hell does a skeleton stay upright? Especially in the middle section where there are just a couple of vertebrae and a rib cage? The answer is PRESSURE. A whole lot of it. Like a can of carbonated beverage. Inside our abdomens there is a lot of pressure all being held in by the abs, the diaphragm and the pelvic floor. When all of these systems are working together just right, no one pees or poops their pants, no one has trouble breathing, there is less back pain, bladders and uterus’ stay in the right position and all is well with the world.
Pressure!
Unfortunately, there are many opportunities for that pressure system to get whacked during pregnancy and delivery. First, there’s that extra weight that takes awhile to come off. Second there’s the wonky posture that pregnant women assume as their bellies grow so they don’t fall on their face from the extra weight, which continues after the baby is born as mama leans back so her arms don’t fall off when she’s holding it. Next is the delivery itself planned c-sections without any pushing or much labor don’t get too much pelvic floor trauma, but everyone else gets a whole lot of stretching and downward pressure on their bottom’s during delivery. Super fast deliveries and super slow pushing stages can lead to more problems in the pelvic floor.
Stretched nerves can make things feel different for awhile. The scarring from a tear or episiotomy might hurt quite a bit and make sitting or sex nearly unbearable. If the muscles get too stretched, then the whole pressure system gets out of balance which could leak to leaking and prolapse (when the rectum, bladder or uterus fall out of their normal position).
Better-Well Almost…
Even if it seems like everything has healed pretty well, it never hurts to have a trained professional evaluate the situation. Because luckily, mother nature is good to us and most women bounce back pretty quickly. Unfortunately, problems tend to arise AFTER menopause because estrogen makes our muscles stronger and when estrogen starts to decline, even our pelvic floor muscles tend to get weaker.
So, if you’ve had a baby and want to make sure your core and pelvic floor are in good shape and you recover the strength and coordination for the next baby, or the next phase of your life, please visit with a women’s health physical therapist. You will certainly be glad you did!