⚢ For the Girls ⚢

A conversation I have with almost every woman who ends up in my room for pelvic floor treatment is how little knowledge about their reproductive system and ways to improve their pelvic health they have received throughout their lifetime. Periods, pregnancy, menopause – it is so common for my people to feel they were left unprepared and uneducated on how to know what is normal and what’s not. I could (and plan to) dedicate a blog post to each of those areas, but pregnancy feels the most appropriate to start with in honor of Mother’s Day!

Things that are common during pregnancy a pelvic floor therapist can help you with:

Urinary leakage: Our blood volume increases significantly during pregnancy, as well as a major change in pressure within our abdomen and pelvis—especially if you are experiencing vomiting.  These two things alone can lead to urinary leakage, but especially common if you have some poor pressure management strategies (pushing your urine out, bearing down with ab exercises, dehydration, etc) prior to pregnancy.

• We love teaching our pregnant patients how to better manage pressure within their systems. Getting into good habits during pregnancy helps alleviate symptoms during pregnancy and decrease likelihood of urinary leakage postpartum.

• Pain symptoms: There are so many postural changes that happen over the length of a pregnancy and is the biggest contributor to pain during pregnancy. Previous injuries, mobility and/or strength differences side to side prior to pregnancy also contribute to pain during pregnancy.

• We can help you identify what areas are holding excess tension and what areas may be struggling to stabilize a changing body to help mitigate pain symptoms.

• Constipation management: Constipation during pregnancy is SO COMMON. Getting on top of and preventing constipation is so important especially in the third trimester for an easier delivery. Our pelvic floor muscles need to be able to lengthen for baby to be able to exit, and having stool collecting within our rectum which lives inside our same pelvis the baby has to travel through makes that harder.

• We can help identify dietary and other habits that may be leading to constipation as well as focus on specific areas to release tension allowing for improved digestion and evacuation.

• Fear around labor/delivery: The unknown can feel scary! Or going back for a subsequent delivery if the first one didn’t go the way you hoped it would. A birth prep appointment with your support person to go over stages of labor and what positions we want your hips/pelvis to be in and pain relief techniques for the support person to do for mom is always such a fun day in the treatment room. We talk about how to breathe while pushing, pushing positions with or without epidural, and answer any questions we can. One of my very favorite things I get to do is help a couple feel empowered heading into labor and delivery!

• There are so many beautiful parts of pregnancy, and it’s also a really vulnerable time for a woman. It is an honor to be part of someone’s birth team and we love getting to help people feel better, stay in their activities, decrease fear around their changing bodies or what is to come, and normalize anything they may be dealing with during the process!

Tanner Hampton PT, DPT, SFMA, Certified Functional Dry Needling L1, TFA (The Female Athlete), GGS Certified Pre- and Postnatal Coach