Why You Should do Pelvic Therapy During Pregnancy
Believe it or not, you don’t need an injury or complaint to start pelvic floor therapy during pregnancy. I use this analogy over and over again but I will say it again! Would you show up to run a marathon without any training? DIdn’t think so. So why should we show up to having a baby without prepping our bodies at all. Think of giving birth as a marathon and the 10 months before as your training time. During this time, our goal is to make you feel confident, comfortable, empowered and most importantly, prepared.
So what does therapy look like while you’re pregnant? Generally, we wont start therapy until you are out of your first trimester. At this point, we will do our initial assessment, establish our goals and get a good baseline of where your body is at. Up until week 30, we will check in monthly, unless something comes up that requires us to check in more regularly. During this time, our primary goal is prevention. We want to prevent dysfunction from starting in pregnancy and help prevent it from happening afterwards (think incontinence, DRA, etc). At week 30 we will start the preparation phase. We will now start checking in every two weeks with the primary goal of getting your body ready to have this baby. We will focus on making sure baby is in an optimal position, pelvic floor and abdominal wall are symmetrical and go over thing such as perineal stretching. Once you hit 36 weeks, we will check in weekly up until you give birth.
Okay, so why invest in pelvic floor therapy during your pregnancy?
Treat aches, pains and dysfunction as soon as your body starts showing signs: Since we are checking in regularly, we can stay on top of these things. We can use various techniques specific for pregnancy, therapeutic exercises/stretching, KT tape, etc. to keep your body feeling good.
Prevent postpartum dysfunction: That’s right we CAN prevent dysfunction from occurring. By keeping you connected to your breath, core and pelvic floor we can prevent dysfunction postpartum as you never lost this connection during pregnancy. It becomes harder and harder to tune into your pelvic floor because theres a big ol’ baby in between your pelvis and brain. If we work to never lose that connection, it will be much easier to reestablish postpartum.
Contributes to a decreased risk of perineal tearing and injury: One of our biggest goals in those last weeks is to prep your pelvic floor for a vaginal delivery (should that be your goal). We will educate you on perineal stretching, manually mobilize the pelvic floor musculature so it is symmetrical and continue to incorporate breath work so you can relax your pelvic floor muscles during the big event.
Pelvic floor therapy will leave you feeling prepared and empowered! Throughout your pregnancy we will continue to talk about your birth plan and goals and how to best achieve them. Around 36-37 weeks, we offer a birth prep session with you and your partner. During this session, we will go over all things having a baby including what to expect, laboring positions, pushing positions, how your partner can help, how to push and even aftercare for you! Everyone is focused on baby, we are focused on YOU.
Preparation and guidance for postpartum rehabilitation. One of our goals is to minimize any dysfunction postpartum. You will learn exactly what you should do postpartum, whether you’re planning a c-section or vaginal delivery. From the moment you hit the bed in the recovery room to the 6 week mark when you check back in for your postpartum check up, you will have a solid plan of attack.
The list goes on and on; there are countless reasons to seek pelvic therapy during your pregnancy! And remember, whether you are 12 weeks or 37 weeks… it is never to late to get started and begin feeling empowered, prepared and confident.
