Do New Moms Need Physical Therapy After Childbirth?
By Debbie Marchese, PT, DPT, OCS
As soon as a baby is born, the focus is on the child and the new mom tends to ignore her own health issues. Childbirth changes a woman’s body and pelvic floor physical therapy is often needed during the postpartum recovery stage to regain optimal health.
After giving birth, it’s common for women to deal with issues like urinary incontinence, diastasis recti (separation of the abdominal muscles), and pelvic pain. The hormone relaxin increases prior to delivery to allow the pelvis to stretch. This adds to the instability of joints which makes the new mother more susceptible to injury. Women have the added mental and musculoskeletal stress of caring for their infants which affects the posture of the mid scapular, shoulder, and pelvic regions.
“Most moms are in pain after birth and they just figure it’s common and normal, but there is a treatment for it. They don’t have to live with it,” said Marianne Ryan, a physical therapist in New York City and author of “Baby Bod: Turn Flab to Fab in 12 Weeks Flat.”
Physical therapists teach new mothers correct body mechanics to decrease stress on their already overstretched muscles and ligaments. Simple changes, such as using a changing table, prevent the mother from leaning over and decreases stress in their upper and lower back. Approximately 85% of women have pain the first time they have sex after childbirth and nearly a quarter of them still do 18 months postpartum, a recent study in the International Journal of Obstetrics & Gynecology found. With proper exercise and training supervised by a physical therapist, this can be avoided.
“Not only do we do nothing in the U.S., but, if a woman goes to her physician, particularly her obstetrician, with these complaints after the delivery it’s written off as “Well, you just had a baby,” said Stephanie Pendergrast, co-founder of The Pelvic Health and Rehabilitation Center in Los Angeles and author of “Pelvic Pain Explained.”
Many times women think they are contracting the pelvic floor muscles, and may be using the hip or abdominal muscles in place of the pelvic floor muscles. Prendergast said that a study in the journal Female Pelvic Medicine and Reconstructive Surgery found that 23% of women who said they knew how to do Kegel exercises did not do them correctly. It’s important that they learn to strengthen the pelvic floor muscles to prevent hip, back, and incontinence problems later. “OB-Gyn physicians are not trained to identify pelvic floor or abdominal problems like physical therapists are,” said Pendergrast.
With a doctor’s referral, a women’s health therapist evaluates and design a program to address muscle weaknesses, postural misalignments, sensation deficits or coordination. At Sheltering Arms, we have biofeedback sensors that can monitor the use of pelvic floor muscles to assure a patient is using the correct muscles. We also use electrical stimulation to assist women with strengthening the pelvic floor. Our therapists address not only weaknesses of the pelvic floor, but also of the core and hip musculature so that patients can safely continue their wellness journey at their local gym.
New moms need to take care of their bodies to prevent issues now and in the future. To learn more about Sheltering Arms pregnancy recovery programs, click here or call (804) 764-1000 to schedule an appointment with a women’s health specialist.