What is one tried and true exercise or recommendation that you give pregnant or postpartum patients?
The correct answer to this question is that every person and body is its own, and no one ‘thing’ will be the perfect fix for everyone. We will, however, provide the most commonly prescribed exercise to this population: awareness. Yes that’s right, you don’t need a gym or fancy equipment to start your pelvic floor journey, you only need to take a minute and pay attention.
Are your butt cheeks clenched all the time?
Do you spend the day with your belly sucked in?
Do you do a repetitive task (holding a baby, standing with a certain posture, getting up and down off the floor, sitting at a desk, etc etc etc) and notice discomfort?
Can you lift your pelvic floor muscles? (think: stopping the flow of urine)
Can you relax your pelvic floor muscles? (think: letting go, lengthening, opening)
Sitting and taking a deep breath to notice what the pelvic floor does is almost always step one in problem solving the culprit of bowel or bladder issues, sexual function, pelvic pain or weakness. It is often difficult to connect to that part of the body (that’s a whole other discussion!), but once you are able, the fun stuff begins! Cheers to a happy pelvic floor!
