Pelvic Health for New Moms
What is the pelvic floor?
The pelvic floor includes the muscles, ligaments and connective tissue that lie beneath and support the perineum and pelvis. It supports your organs, including the bowel, bladder, uterus, vagina, and rectum.
Urinary Symptoms During Pregnancy
It is common for urinary symptoms and pelvic organ prolapse to develop or worsen during pregnancy. 80-95% of women develop this during pregnancy. These symptoms may be due to uterine pressure on the bladder, hormonal effects on the suspensory ligaments of the urethra, and altered neuromuscular function of the urethral striated sphincter.
What can I do to protect my pelvic floor during the pregnancy?
- Pelvic Floor Therapist assist in personalizing exercises during pregnancy to strengthen the pelvic floor
- Avoid high-impact exercises that may place pressure on the pelvic floor
- Maintain a strong core in the pregnancy, prenatal yoga is a great example
What happens to the pelvic floor during childbirth?
As the baby is delivered, the head stretches the pelvic floor muscles, fascia, and nerves. Up to one-third of women following vaginal childbirth may experience injury to their pelvic floor muscles and fascia that is associated with urinary incontinence 3 months after delivery. These injuries may cause the pelvic floor muscles and their associated structures to weaken over time.
What happens after I deliver?
For many women pregnancy-induced physiologic changes return to the non-pregnant state by four to 6 weeks postpartum. However urinary incontinence symptoms may persist.
New Mom Postpartum Pelvic Health
What is Postpartum Urinary incontinence?
Urinary Incontinence is defined as the involuntary loss of urine. Postpartum Urinary Incontinence is common. In a recent study (from the Netherlands), more than half of all postpartum women in the 6 weeks to one year post childbirth experience Urinary Incontinence. However, only 25% of women seek help.
What treatments are available for Urinary Incontinence?
Postpartum Prolapse
What is postpartum prolapse?
Approximately 35% of women who deliver vaginally are estimated to develop pelvic organ prolapse. If pelvic floor muscles and connective tissue become weakened, stretched, or are torn, the pelvic organs may drop down. Pelvic Organ Prolapse is the dropping of the pelvic organs by the loss of the normal support of the vagina. Women may feel or see a bulge coming out beyond the opening of their vagina.
What symptoms may I experience if I have postpartum prolapse?
- Symptoms of a bulge from the vaginal
- Pelvic pressure
- The feeling of “sitting on a ball.”
- Urinary symptoms of leakage, difficulty starting the stream of urine, frequent urinary tract infections.
- Difficult bowel movements—the need to strain or push on or around the vagina to have a bowel movement.
What can I do if I have postpartum prolapse?
3 out of 4 women who experience bulge symptoms 8 weeks after delivery will no longer feel a bulge at 1 year.
Treatment includes:
- Lifestyle changes, exercise, proper diet, and avoiding exercises exacerbating certain movements may prevent your body from healing.
- Pelvic Floor Therapy- This therapy involves completing specific breathing, movement and strength exercises to restore control of your pelvic floor.
- Topical Vaginal Estrogen Cream- Vaginal cream improves the quality of the vaginal skin
- Pessary- Prosthetic device inserted into the vagina to support its internal structure.
- Surgery- There are many reconstructive surgery options. There are risks with these surgeries as well as the risk of recurrence.