How can Athletic Therapy Help with Postnatal Concerns?

Getting Back to Exercise Postnatal

A Certified Athletic Therapist with the appropriate training can be super helpful in your return to movement and exercise after pregnancy!

Want to be pain-free while lifting your kids?

Want to chase after your kids or run a half marathon?

Want to get back to cross-fit?

Or maybe you want to be able to do a general workout but you don’t know where to start.

Or maybe ever you are not sure what exercises are safe or unsafe

We have all heard some of the scary information that can be found on the internet regarding Diastasis, Incontinence, and Prolapse, but it doesn’t have to be scary!

As a Certified Athletic Therapist, I got into working with the pregnancy and postnatal population after the cesarean birth of my son because I had a difficult time sorting through all of the conflicting information that is out there on the internet. So I took a bunch of courses. Listened to a lot of webinars. Read what feels like a million research articles. And now, I have the ability, and confidence to guide women through common pelvic health concerns.

Women coming through the clinic are often so excited when I tell them that maybe they don’t have to stop the exercise they love, they can perhaps modify it slightly so they are able to continue safely!

The research out there supports exercise. It supports movement. It shows that exercise is helpful with your common pelvic health concerns. So why not use that to our advantage?

Postnatal Exercise Myths

Myth: Do not do sit-ups after pregnancy. It will cause or make your diastasis worse.
Fact: What if doing the sit-ups is what we need to do to decrease that inter-recti distance?

Myth: Lifting heavy weights will make your prolapse worse.
Fact: Research supports weight lifting when you have a prolapse to help decrease symptoms. There are ways to modify to decrease the symptoms - talk to your exercise and postnatal care specialist!! (ps. I offer virtual appointments!)

Myth: Peeing your pants is normal. Just accept it will happen for the rest of your life.
Fact: Leaking, at whatever amount at any stage of life, especially after pregnancy is common.
Fact: There are things you can do to decrease or potentially even remove these symptoms altogether!

Myth: Kegels are life. Do them. Do 100 of them a day. Do them always. It’s how you will stop peeing your pants.
Fact: While Kegels can be beneficial, being able to relax the pelvic floor is just as important as being able to contract the pelvic floor. However, most of the time, depending on your goals, I am going to recommend your exercises look more like the things you want to be doing.

For example. You want to do jumping jacks but you stop because of incontinence? I am not going to tell you you have to stop and do kegel exercises. Together I will guide you through different postural/pressure system/movement modifications that you could try, and see if this helps to decrease your symptoms so you can continue to do the things that you love! Like jumping jacks!

Okay, I could keep going but I am going to stop with the myth vs fact list. You get the idea.

As a Certified Athletic Therapist, I am able to assess for common pelvic health concerns like diastasis, incontinence, and prolapse through external, over-the-clothes touch. I am here to guide you through your common pelvic health concerns. I love to use movement and exercise as a modality, and I love to see people succeed. My goal is for you to see change in minutes, not hours, days, or months.

Happy Moving!

-Ash