Did you know that 1 in 3 women who have had a baby will experience pelvic floor dysfunction?
The pelvic floor are a group of muscles, nerves, blood vessels and fascia that lift and support your organs as well as your baby during pregnancy.
To allow tissues to expand as your baby grows, a hormone called ‘relaxin’ is released by your body to softens these tissues and allows your pelvic floor to stretch during birth. The softening effect and the increasing weight of your baby places pressure on your pelvic floor muscles which can make it harder for them to hold your pelvic floor organs in the correct position. The pelvic floor muscles and ligaments are also stretched at birth.
Physiotherapy can really make a difference to the health of your pelvic floor and to your overall recovery after pregnancy by:
? Progressively improving your pelvic floor function
?Reducing abdominal separation
? Reducing lower back, upper back, pelvic pain and any other joint or muscle pain
? Guiding your appropriate return to exercise to regain your strength and conditioning
? Improving your posture and awareness of how to look after your health so you can nurture your baby
? Increase your energy while reducing feelings of tiredness and fatigue
? Guide your return to be active and healthy to live the life you love
It is really important that postnatally, you return to activity and exercise safely and correctly. This is where our experienced Women’s Health Platinum Physios can help you!
First we provide a postnatal abdominal muscle and pelvic floor assessment to determine what treatments/exercises are appropriate and will individually tailor treatments/ and exercises suited to your needs and health goals! These may include:
Pelvic floor exercises
? Starting with making sure you can activate your pelvic floor correctly and steadily progressing these exercises in the right way will help strengthen and improve tone in those muscles that have been affected by your pregnancy, birth and by the hormone ‘relaxin’. This will give further support to your lower back and pelvis.
Abdominal exercises
? Once you have strengthened your pelvic floor muscles, your deep and lower abdominal muscles can be strengthened with the guidance of our Physiotherapist. This will help provide your body with strength and stability to manage the demands of active motherhood and will reduce your incidences of low back pain
Hydro classes
? Working out in supervised sessions in the safety and warmth of our Hydrotherapy Pool is a low impact, highly effective and fun way to get fit and active. You will experience less strain on your pelvic floor and lower back compared with land-based exercise and with the guidance of our Aquatic Physios you can safely rebuild your strength, mobility and fitness.
Strength and conditioning and return to Sport
? Keen to get back to playing Netball, Football or Tennis? Our Platinum Physios will help you retrain your pelvic floor muscles and the rest of your body to be ready to return to your sport. This often takes up to 4-6 months but is different for every woman. Our Physios have the expertise to provide you with both the guidance and clearance for return to exercise and to your sport.
? Our specially designed gyms combine the most appropriate Pilates, strength and conditioning equipment. Our Hydrotherapy pools are perfectly maintained and uniquely equipped. Let our expert Platinum Physios guide you from lower impact activities that are safe to complete while building strength in your pelvic floor muscles all the way through to reach your health and fitness goals.
Our team at Platinum Physio are committed to getting you back to living an active healthy life post-natally. If you have any questions, pop in to one of our clinics at Caulfield or Windsor or give us a call on 8554 0111. Alternatively, you can book online.
