Integrating Physiotherapy Into Your Postpartum Recovery Plan
What should the standard of care look like for a postpartum woman? For many, this only includes a 6 week postpartum check up and an additional follow up 1 year later with their OB/Gyn or midwife. This may feel like an inadequate amount of postpartum resources, but what if we could change the postpartum recovery plan and include pelvic health physical therapy? That’s one of our missions at Revitalize Physical Therapy and below we will explain 4 reasons why we feel so passionate about providing postpartum physical therapy at our clinic.
Pelvic Floor Changes During Pregnancy and Delivery
It is well known that a woman's body undergoes significant changes during pregnancy from conception to delivery. These changes are necessary to help nurture the developing fetus, but did you know that the pelvic floor muscles can stretch up to 3x their initial length during a vaginal birth!
The body is remarkable at healing itself, but it is not uncommon for a postpartum woman to need guidance on lingering symptoms (e.g. weakness, pain, leakage). For those that also experience a birth injury to the tissues via c-section, episiotomy, or vaginal tear, it should be standard postpartum practice to refer to a pelvic health physical therapist to assist with recovery.
If you are interested in reading more about a c-section or birth tear recovery, click the links to visit our previously written blogs specific to these topics!
Birth is a Major Medical Event Deserving More Follow Up Care
There are some medical procedures that the healthcare industry will immediately refer to physical therapy for improved surgery and mobility outcomes. One surgery that comes to mind is a knee replacement.
Many pelvic health physical therapists are trying to change the narrative around postpartum care to include a physical therapy assessment around your 6 week OB/Gyn or midwife visit. At this visit your medical provider discusses many important topics including mental health, breastfeeding concerns, general pelvic health recovery and wound healing. However, this does not leave enough time for the practitioner to educate on scar massage, core and pelvic floor strengthening, and return to exercise guidance. A pelvic floor physical therapist can be a great addition to the recovery team to educate on these additional topics!
Postpartum Physical Therapy, Feel Better Faster!
Unfortunately, even if concerns are brought up at your 6 week postpartum visit, there is sometimes a "wait and see” approach for many common symptoms including leakage, pain and tissue healing. However, many postpartum symptoms occur due to weakness, impaired posture, impaired muscle activation and tissue restriction. For all of these postpartum body changes, we have treatment strategies in physical therapy to help! If referrals to a pelvic floor specialist happened sooner, we could reduce the risk of long term or secondary symptoms, help women safely return to physical activities and reduce the risk of recurring symptoms in subsequent pregnancies!
Postpartum Recovery Plan: A Guide on How to Return to Activity
There is often little guidance at your 6 week postpartum visit when you receive the “all clear” to return to normal activities. This could be due to lack of time or the provider not feeling like an expert in return to exercise guidance, which is ok! This is where the medical field can rely on pelvic health physical therapists in the postpartum recovery plan. We are trained experts at assessing an individual's overall strength and how they use their body through movement. With this information, we can design an individual exercise and activity plan so women do not return to activities too soon, delay healing or increase risk of injury.
Pelvic health physical therapists have a huge role in helping women during the postpartum journey. We are so eager to help improve your symptoms and educate you on safe return to activity! If you are having any current concerns, a great first step would be to apply for a postpartum assessment. Give Revitalize Physical Therapy a call to book an evaluation so we can help you get started in your recovery plan today!
