Restoring your Core and Pelvic Floor, the right way.
Are you pregnant? Have you just had a baby? Or did you have a baby years ago? Did you know that post birth, your body may continue to recover and heal for months even years after birth?
Well, it sounds crazy now, but we really didn’t!!! We both had fairly straight forward pregnancies (5 between us!), trained throughout the full 9 months and maintained a good level of fitness and strength. So, once we got the go ahead from our OB/GYN to return to exercise, we were good to go, right? Uh-uh…. no. One prolapse and a longterm Diastasis rectis (abdominal separation) later and we realised that we were not properly informed!! ⠀
But, we were fit, strong, healthy and had just been given the green light to go back to exercise – so what went wrong? Well, for both of us – it was this false sense of security that all of the above gave us! What we didn’t realise was that there was so much more going on under the surface that we were not aware of, nor informed about – so we dived right back in, and were not aware of any underlying weaknesses until it was ALMOST too late.
After a lifetime of being fit and training hard – we both totally understand the haste to want to get back into your old exercise sessions and to sweat, to push yourself hard again and feel like you did pre-bub – and, it is more than likely that you will be able to return to your pre-pregnancy workouts eventually, BUT it is really important that you follow the correct path back. ⠀
The big issue post-pregnancy is that things might seem great on the ‘surface’, even for years post-pregnancy, that is, until they are not… and the real the problem is that it is REALLY hard to know what is brewing below the surface (in your Core and Pelvic floor) without a proper examination by a Women’s Health Physio. ⠀
What we were not really told was that while on the outside, we were good to go (with returning to exercise, that is), we were TOTALLY unaware of what was happening in our Core and Pelvic floor. We honestly didn’t realise that these were two separate things.
The female body should be able to run and jump freely, move, squat, sneeze, laugh, birth and have sex without any pain, discomfort or fear. We should be able to conduct these very natural functional movements and activities without repercussions, however for many of us post-babies (sometimes even before), this is not the case because of lack of confidence in our Pelvic Floor, PF dysfunction or weak and unstable Core muscles. Check our our Info Hub for more information here.
What we now know is that our muscles do not work in isolation, but instead act as just one part of the whole system. That is particularly true for Core and Pelvic floor muscles – which combine to help you sit, stand, and walk, they even work together with the diaphragm to help you breathe ‘properly’ (which most of us don’t do – but more on that another time!). These muscles help control movements, transfer energy, shift body weight and move in different directions and a strong Core also distributes the stress of weight-bearing and protects the back.
You need to remember the incredible changes your body has just undergone in pregnancy, birth and beyond. You need to give it time to heal, time to strengthen and time to restore from the inside out. When it comes to you, your body and your exercise journey, remember that pregnancy is both body AND life changing.
While your body takes time to recover from pregnancy and child birth, and you adjust to the new routines and sleep (or lack thereof!), you also need to heal and restore your Core muscles post-pregnancy in the correct way to ensure that you avoid injury and the risk of any complications down the track.
Everyone’s path to recovery is different and depends on lots of different things- your pregnancy, the birth, any complications and your post-birth status BUT with the right attention, most women will be able to restore their PF and core health without surgical intervention (which, by the way, should be the very last option!). ⠀
Check out all the details of our popular benchmark Core Restore Program. It is a fully-researched, structured and progressive exercise series designed specifically with pregnant and post-natal mums in mind. It is gentle and extremely targeted and can be started within the first six weeks, post-birth or even years after the birth of your last child.
Our first 2017 workshops are kicking off on the week of Jan 30, 2017 in Brisbane, Australia and our fully online offering should not be far behind. Register your interest at hello@soulsisterhealth.com.au and be quick because spaced are limited!
And here’s to a lifetime of amazing, postnatal health!
Anna & Em xo
