Why Mother’s Need Physical Therapy
Written by Linea and Ashley | Physical Therapists and Women’s Health Specialist’s
Here’s to the mothers. We see you. We see you always taking care of everyone else. How are you taking care of yourself?
Whether you are a new mom or a seasoned mom, you are postpartum and it is never too late to start addressing those “women issues”.
This month, we celebrate mothers and everything they have done for us. As the women’s health specialists at Performance Therapies, we have the privilege of working with many mothers, helping them to improve their function both after a recent pregnancy and many years afterwards. We also are both mothers ourselves, so we understand the process of becoming a mother and what recovery is like following that process.
The body undergoes many biomechanical changes during pregnancy, labor, and delivery. Issues such as pain, incontinence, diastasis recti, or prolapse may occur. These issues can be common but not normal. Leaking is not normal. Ever. Not when you sneeze. Not when you jump. “Just in case” trips to the bathroom are not normal. Low back, hip, pelvic pain, and prolapse is not normal.
The experience of carrying and birthing a baby is unique and causes many biomechanical changes within the body. During pregnancy, changes in circulating hormones cause softening of ligaments that provide stability in the body. The pelvis widens and the rib cage flares to accommodate a growing fetus. As shifts occur in the skeletal system, the surrounding muscles must accommodate for those changes, placing new and different stresses on a mother’s body.
During and following the birthing process, even more changes continue to occur rapidly to allow for the baby to be born and to allow for the transition to recovery of pregnancy and caring for the baby. If you think that this sounds like a lot of changes in a short amount of time, you’re absolutely right!
We are here to help. Whether you recently have given birth or many years later, physical therapy can help address your postpartum issues.
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