A Prenatal Check with a Women’s Health Physiotherapist; why, when and what does it involve?
Coming to see a pelvic health physiotherapist while pregnant may not be top of your list of things to do. Afterall you are up to your eyes with birthing classes, shopping for baby stuff, just trying to survive work and pregnancy and getting to the hospital or GP for your check-ups. However, those that do choose to come in find it really useful. Here’s a round up of what it involves, why you might come in and how to get the most from your session.
Why come in to see a Women’s Health Physiotherapist during pregnancy?
if you have had an incidence of bladder incontinence ( leakage) or urgency or chronic issues with constipation/ fissures/ haemhorrhoids pre pregnancy. You may not have noticed any issues with these things before pregnancy and then all of a sudden you start to. Here is the thing its not just pregnancy although absolutely hormones and extra weight in your abdominal region will contribute
if you have a history of vaginismus/ pain with sex of tampon usage
if you have trouble ‘finding your pelvic floor’ to do your strengthening exercises or if you unsure if you are doign them correctly or not
If you want general education about the changes in your body, how to exercise and reduce intra-abdominal pressures related
If you are concerned about diastasis recti during pregnancy
if you would like to learn how to do perineal massage and learn about ways to reduce pressure on your pelvic floor during birth
if you have pain: lumbar pain, pelvic pain, rib pain etc.
When should you attend?
It is best to leave your first session until after your 20 week scan unless you are in pain, particularly pelvic pain as early intervention is best with this. Similarily, if you are very worried about your pelvic floor, you can attend slightly earlier at 16 weeks. Women will often attend to get a pelvic floor check in their second trimester and then again later in the pregnancy at 34 weeks for perineal prep and birth prep.
What does the session involve?
a chat about your pregnancy so far and maybe your previous history pre pregnancy
what you would like to get from the session : this will differ for women
an external check of posture, identifying any postural/ muscular weaknesses or tightness that can be addressed to reduce discomfort or potential issues as the pregnancy progresses
a check on how your stomach muscles are dealing with pressure changes and stretch; and how this may be affecting exercise
With your specific consent we will check your pelvic floor with a pelvic floor check internally. This is gentle and minimally invasive and is to give you feedback and education on what type of a pelvic floor you have: do you tend to overactively hold your pelvic floor? Can you release as well as lift your muscles? What is your overall power like and can you hold it ? Can you perform fast squeezes? What is your techniques like? Can you isolate it?
Breathing is important as part of your pelvic floor check and will often come into your ability to control your pelvic floor and abdominal pressures during pregnancy and leading into birth. We will always address this and introduce concepts that fit for you.
There are so many tips, tricks and tools both visual and tactile that can be used to optimise women’s pelvic floor awareness. Ultimately we want to give you the best opportunity to connect with your core and pelvic floor, reduce pain, measure expectations around the body changes within pregnancy and postnatal and how to manage this, how to exercise safely and efficiently and how to reduce the incidence of pelvic floor dysfunction post pregnancy.
Make your booking ahead of time via our online booking system and keep an eye out for online webinars coming soon if you are unable to attend in person.
