Pregnancy, labor, and delivery greatly affect the pelvic floor muscles, and our birth prep services using pelvic floor therapy can bring you confidence, strength, and flexibility.
What are the pelvic floor muscles?
The pelvic floor muscles are a group of muscles inside the pelvis that form a hammock connecting the pubic bone to the tailbone. Both men and women have pelvic floor muscles. These muscles play an important part in stabilizing the pelvis and spine, supporting your organs (bowel, bladder and uterus) and toileting.
The Pelvic Floor and Pregnancy
During pregnancy the pelvic floor muscles are working overtime trying to stabilize and support the growing body of the mother and child. Read our previous blog post about preparing the pelvic floor for childbirth. During a vaginal childbirth, these muscles will utilize their strength and flexibility to help the baby be birthed. Whether or not the baby is born via C-Section or vaginally, the pelvic floor is involved, and this is where our birth prep services come into play.
Pelvic Floor Therapy and Birth Prep Services
Seeking out pelvic floor therapy during your pregnancy will help you gain stability, strength, flexibility, and motor control of the pelvic floor so that you can go into your labor and delivery with more confidence and possibly reduce your risk for perineal tears.
Birth prep services from a trained pelvic floor physical therapist can help you in the following ways during your pregnancy:
1st Trimester
- Core stability
- Pelvic stability
- Pelvic floor strength and flexibility
- Reducing pain and risk of injury from joint laxity
- Motor control of the pelvic floor: contracting, relaxing, and elongating the pelvic floor
- Body mechanics to reduce risk of injury
- Continuing a sports/fitness program as your body grows
2nd Trimester
- Postural re-education to reduce pain
- Managing low back pain, SI joint pain, pubic symphysis pain, round ligament pain
- Managing diastasis recti abdominis AKA ‘Mommy tummy’
- Core stability
- Pelvic stability
- Pelvic floor strength and flexibility
- Continuing a sports/fitness program as your body grows
- Motor control of the pelvic floor: contracting, relaxing, and elongating the pelvic floor
- Body mechanics to reduce risk of injury
3rd Trimester
- Managing low back pain, SI joint pain, pubic symphysis pain, round ligament pain
- Birth prep: what to expect
- Finding an optimal labor position
- Pelvic floor relaxation
- Perineal massage
- Motor control of the pelvic floor: contracting, relaxing, and elongating the pelvic floor
“4th Trimester”- Postnatal
- Rehabilitation of childbirth injuries
- Postpartum urinary incontinence
- Finding your kegel again
- Core stability
- Pelvic stability
- Managing diastasis recti abdominis AKA ‘Mommy tummy’
- Postural pain
- Pain with breastfeeding
- Body mechanics for childcare
Wherever you are in your pregnancy, we can help you!
To schedule an appointment for birth prep services with one of our therapists, call us at (818) 873-1403 or use our online appointment form here.
