Although a lot of women are keen to get back their pre baby routine it is really important to make this return as safe as possible.
Whether you have had a caesarian or vaginal delivery we recommend you starting your pelvic floor exercises along with light walking as soon as you feel comfortable.
6 week check with your Women's Health Physio
At 6 weeks you will have a follow up appointment with your Obstetrician or GP, after this we recommend having a 6 week check up with a Women's Health Physiotherapist who will check the integrity of your pelvic floor. This is to make sure you can get a contraction, as some women's pelvic floor can be inhibited after birth and they can struggle to contact their pelvic floor muscles. It will also involve assessing the position of your pelvic organs to make sure there is no prolapse, checking for a abdominal separation and deep core contraction. Following this we will be able to safely prescribe a postnatal exercise program for you to begin.
What about returning to running or high intensity exercise?
Although every woman’s body recovers differently, we still recommend waiting a minimum of 12 weeks, as well as having no incontinence issues, no pain or no prolapse symptoms before participating in any outer abdominal exercises such as sit ups or any high intensity core work that increases your intra abdominal pressure. This intra abdominal pressures directly puts strain on your pelvic floor.
Running is another hight impact exercise that places strain through these muscles and we recommend before beginning to run that your have your pelvic floor assessed and pass a pelvic floor stress test.