7 Reasons You Should See a Pelvic Floor Therapist In Pregnancy
Preparing your body for birth is one of the most important things you can do during pregnancy. Your body will experience a significant event during labor. This is why you should see a pelvic floor therapist in pregnancy.
Many women focus on the growing fetus and learning about the milestones the baby is meeting each month, such as comparing the growth size to a fruit or learning when the baby’s eyes are developed. While this is exciting and fun to learn, there should also be a focus on learning about how to help the body during labor and delivery.
If you are an expecting mother, discover ways to help yourself during one of the most life-changing events. It will undoubtedly be an experience you won’t forget.
Related: What Happens to the Pelvic Floor During Childbirth?
7 Reasons for Pelvic Floor Therapy in Pregnancy
The following are reasons why pelvic floor therapy in pregnancy is important and should be made a priority. Give your body the best experience of labor, delivery, and postpartum.
Labor and Birth Positions
A pelvic floor therapist is the best person to learn from regarding labor and birth positions. As your baby descends down the birth canal and prepares to enter the world, your pelvic floor will be required to move, separate, and adjust to accommodate.
Your pelvic floor therapist can help you understand the best position to be in during each stage of labor to help your pelvic floor open up to push out the baby. Knowing these positions can potentially decrease labor discomfort. When your body is in the optimal position, your baby will move with less resistance.
Reduce the Chance of Tearing
The perineum is the area between the vulva and the anus. During labor and delivery, this area has the potential to tear if your body isn’t ready to deliver. When you work with a pelvic floor therapist in pregnancy, you can learn how to reduce the chance of tearing.
Massaging the perineum can decrease the chance of tearing. A pelvic floor therapist can teach you the best techniques for massaging yourself before labor. These techniques can enhance the elasticity in the tissue in this area of your body, which offers more flexibility and resilience.
Learn Appropriate Breathing Techniques
Pelvic floor therapy greatly improves your breathing and posture. This is helpful for pregnant women, especially as the growing baby pushes on the lungs and diaphragm. Partner with a pelvic floor therapist to learn appropriate breathing techniques.
The techniques you learn can help with discomfort during pregnancy as your baby continues to grow. In addition, these breathing techniques can help during labor.
Understand How to Effectively Bear Down
Bearing down in delivery involves forcefully pushing down when it’s time to deliver your baby. Your body will react like a reflex during the pushing stage. However, many expecting moms become tense during this time, which can cause difficulty.
To prevent becoming tense and to work with your body during this stage, it’s important to know how to effectively bear down. Your pelvic floor therapist will be able to guide you in learning the best ways to do so. You can practice with your therapist so that when the time comes, you will know how to respond to push your baby out.
Related: The Benefits of Pelvic Floor Exercises During Pregnancy
Minimize Diastasis Recti
Diastasis recti is also known as the ab separation that occurs in pregnancy. Your growing baby pushes against your abdominal wall, which causes your abs to separate to accommodate the growth. For some women, diastasis recti can be severe and difficult to recover from after delivery.
Instead of waiting until after pregnancy, partner with a pelvic floor therapist in pregnancy to learn how to avoid or minimize diastasis recti. Your therapist can help you learn different exercises to use that are safe in pregnancy and strengthen your core.
Understand Your Pelvic Floor Baseline
Knowing about your body specifically will help you understand how to use it best. Understand your pelvic baseline before birth so that you know how to work with it during labor. Your baseline includes understanding your pelvic floor positioning, flexibility, and strength.
When you partner with a pelvic floor therapist, your therapist will give you a full assessment. After the assessment, your therapist can provide specific recommendations and offer strategies to help you. This is important to do before you give birth.
Learn About the Pelvic Floor
The pelvic floor is a crucial part of your body. It is responsible for protecting organs such as the bladder, uterus, rectum, and more. It is also responsible for your posture, keeping you upright, and distributing weight during movement. If the pelvic floor is injured, many parts of the body are affected.
It’s important to learn about your pelvic floor and how it will function during pregnancy and childbirth in addition to learning how to help it recover postpartum. The pelvic floor has an intricate of muscles and ligaments weaving through it. Learning how to support it during pregnancy and beyond will be beneficial.
Decrease Pain by Seeing a Pelvic Floor Therapist in Pregnancy
You can partner with a pelvic floor therapist at any time in your life. It is especially important to see a pelvic floor therapist in pregnancy. Your health and your childbirth experience depend on it.
Pelvic floor therapy while pregnant has many benefits. If you are ready to take control of your pregnancy and childbirth experience, contact Pillar Physio – Georgetown, Texas today. We have helped numerous women in our community heal from pelvic floor dysfunction, find relief from their pain, and get them back to living the life that they love.
Your health and comfort is our goal. Schedule your assessment and let us help you learn and understand your pelvic floor.
