Well, if you’ve just given birth…. CONGRATS! And really, just focus on resting and recovering. Once you’ve emerged from the newborn days of haze have a think about how you are feeling and what happened in the birth. If you have these symptoms, see a pelvic floor physio around 4-6 weeks after birth:
- leakage of wee or poo
- a sensation of bulging or heaviness in the vagina
- sensations that you are not emptying your bladder completely
- constipation
- painful sex
- pain in your lower back, buttocks, pubic bone
- pain in your wrists or fingers, upper back, neck or shoulders
Even if you are feeling ok, go and see your pelvic floor physio if your birth involved any of the following:
- 3rd or 4th degree tear
- the use of forceps or suction to get the baby out
- if your baby was 4kg or more
- you had to push for a really long time, or it was an unusually quick pushing time
- a c-section
Those birth factors are what we call ‘high risk’ factors for pelvic floor dysfunction. And last but not least, these following things may have a detrimental effect on your pelvic floor, and it is worthwhile getting checked out down there if you have:
- a history of constipation or chronic straining on the toilet
- a chronic cough, are a smoker, or have bad respiratory allergies
- a high BMI (are overweight)
- are hypermobile (‘double jointed’ or very flexible)
Sometimes your tissues may be hanging on by a thread, and you feel fine down there. But some of these women may return to exercise and cause a prolapse to happen.
Better to be safe than sorry I say! Get ya bits checked out by your pelvic floor physio – they will guide you in the best way to recover after making that incredible bundle of joy in your life.
– the vagina physio
