Quick tips for optimal pelvic health during and after pregnancy.
Pelvic floor can become a bit of a buzz word during and after pregnancy, but it is for good reason.
Did you know women who have had a baby have a 1 in 3 chance of leaking (urinary incontinence) and a 1 in 2 chance of prolapse (aka vaginal bulge/heaviness etc).
Here are 5 quick tips for optimal pelvic health during and after pregnancy.
- Avoid constipation or straining on the toilet. For optimal pelvic health, see your doc if you have any concerns with your bowels and straining.
- Full relaxation of your pelvic floor muscles is just as important as good strength. The times to be aware of relaxing your pelvic floor muscles include:
– When opening your bowels
– In between pelvic floor exercise sets (e.g you might do some nice deep belly breathing to fully relax your pelvic floor, before starting another set).
– When you’re feeling stressed / anxious. - When exercising (lifting) your pelvic floor muscles, one helpful cue is to imagine you’re stopping yourself from passing wind. Imagine you’re in a lift with other people, you need to do a fart, but you don’t want to pass wind in front of them. So, zip up / lift your pelvic floor muscles!
- Do you find you are leaking urine or have prolapse symptoms? Always make sure your bowels are functioning optimally, as this might help to reduce any urinary or prolapse symptoms you have.
- Did you know there are 2 stages of life where we, as women, are more likely to have pelvic health issues? One is pregnancy/postpartum. And the next spike in issues occurs around pre/post menopause. So tackling our pelvic health, and ‘buffering’ ourselves before the onset of menopause may really help to safe-guard against future leaking / prolapse issues (whether or not you’ve had a vaginal, or a caesarean birth).
If you’d like to buffer yourself against pelvic floor conditions in the lead up to future pregnancies and / or menopause, come and join FitNest for a free 7 day trial.
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