Postpartum Return to Fitness
Make it stand out
Your provider just gave you the 6 week “All Clear” to return to exercise.
Now what???
Lets consider for a minute what our bodies have just been through!!
Nine (10) months of growing another human being inside of you (AMAZING) contributing to changes in your posture, breathing, mobility, muscle weakness, muscle tension, and muscular imbalances.
And unfortunately, these things don’t just “bounce back” to its pre-pregnancy state on it’s own. And will it ever?? (That’s a whole other blog!) But I’ll leave this little quote here:
“We don’t bounce back, we only move forward” ~Brianna Battles
Now consider your birthing experience. Did you have a vaginal birth or a cesarian birth? Did you have a really long pushing phase? Did you have a really fast and furious labor and deliver? Did you have any tearing?
And consider your current symptoms. Are you having back pain? Are you experiencing incontinence? Are you experiencing heaviness or pressure in your vagina? Are you having any pelvic pain? What does your abdominal wall feel like to you?
Let’s not forget to mention sleep and nutrition!! Are you sleeping? Are you nurturing your body and are you drinking enough water?
Your provider is not considering all of these things at your 6 weeks check up (and that’s ok, that’s not there job, that’s my job!!). Now, do I wish they would send all postpartum women to physical therapy for at least 1 postpartum check up before giving the green light to return to fitness?? 100% YES YES YES. That’s why I’m here, talking about it!! That’s why I’m here for you!! We’ll talk about all of those things!
At that 6 week postpartum check up, your provider is checking for bleeding, healing of scar tissue, and chatting about birth control. Oh, and doing a very brief mental health check. If you are not bleeding, not complaining of pain, and your scar tissue is healing appropriately, you’ll likely get the green light.
Here is why I think you should make a pit stop to a pelvic floor PT before jumping back into your fitness routine.
LEARN. Learn to reconnect to your inner core system which includes the diaphragm (breathing muscle), transverse abdominis (deep abdominals), and pelvic floor. This system gets all sorts of uncoordinated during pregnancy and learning to reconnect and re-coordinate is a HUGE step in your return to fitness journey. It’s your central stability system!!! And if this isn’t working right, you’ll have all kinds of issues and injuries popping up in your postpartum body.
CONTROL. Now that you’ve learned to reconnect and coordinate this deep core system, can you control it? Can you control it in various environments: lifting your child, pushing a stroller, performing lunges in class, cleaning your house etc
LOAD. If you’ve passed step 1 and step 2, you’re ready to load the system. That’s when you will be most likely ready to get back into your fitness class.
If you are LOADING the body (aka lifting weights, jumping, intense core exercise etc) and you have not worked through steps 1 and 2, that’s when injuries start to occur. Because your central stability system is either weak, or uncoordinated, or maybe it’s even really tight because you’re gripping it all the time trying to get stability from somewhere.
I write you today to consider seeing a pelvic floor physical therapist prior to return to fitness. You won’t regret it! Whenever I do a postpartum evaluation on someone, the most common comment I get is “wow, I learned so much today”.
I want to empower you to get back into your fitness classes safely so you can be a strong and healthy mom for yourself, your children and your family!
