PostPartum: Return to Impact

Growing a baby places a high demand on your body and therefore coming back to activity, specifically impact, has several key factors to follow and allow your pelvic floor to succeed. In this article I’m going to discuss 3 specific demands on your body postpartum whether C-section or vaginal birth.

• Healing Process: with vaginal births that have no tearing or episiotomy, there is still tissue trauma due to the stretching from birth. Tissues need about 4-6 weeks for general healing, and in that time it’s really important to start gradual movement and pelvic floor engagement that way you can start training back to impact activities around week 6-8 weeks, instead of waiting till week 12 since you had not done anything week 0-6. Here are some things you can start doing pretty much right after birth* to start helping the healing process: diaphragmatic breathing with pelvic floor engagement, hooklying ball squeezes for pelvic floor, and supported squats. **PLEASE check with your pelvic floor PT first that you can do these exercises before starting.

• Toileting: Use a squatty potty to reduce pressure on the pelvic floor, and try not to bear down aka pushing super hard whether having a BM (pooing) or voiding (peeing). Also, don’t take your phone in the bathroom; people who take their phone in the bathroom, tend to spend more time on the toilet, which then puts more pressure down on the pelvic floor.

• Oral intake: Watch your intake of bladder irritants (i.e. coffee, soft drinks, energy drinks, fizzy drinks) which can increase frequency of urination during workouts (especially impact activities).

• Symptom threshold: You’re likely going to reach your symptom threshold during workouts (feeling the need to or actually peeing while jumping/practicing impact). This is SUPER important feedback for us as pelvic floor PT’s and yourself. You’re not going to ruin your pelvic floor when this happens, instead, we will encourage you to train just up to that symptom threshold (i.e. start to feel the urge to pee, or you just peed a tiny bit when hitting 10 single unders); that’s your symptom threshold. You’ll mark that number and take a break maybe go ride the bike and then come back to the single unders and perform 3 sets of 9 single unders with a 1 minute break between each set. Then you can slowly start to progress the volume weekly (3 sets of 10 then 3 sets of 11, etc) as you continue to push your symptom threshold marker up and up.

  Top 3 exercises to initiate impact at postpartum:

  1. Heel Drops

  2. Alternating Hops

  3. Small hops with 2 feet: Keep in mind if you’re breast feeding because this can cause a little soreness, so wear a more supportive bra.

  Normal Symptoms you may experience with starting impact which will be your symptom threshold markers:

  1. Pressure/discomfort in the pelvic floor

  2. Leaking

  3. Bleeding: small amounts is normal when in the 4th trimester post pregnancy, anything larger than just slightly smaller then a golf ball that is clotted is not OK and you should contact your medical provider.

     We want you to know that it’s OK to start moving and exercising early post-partum with guidance and knowing your body. Please reach out if you have any questions via text/call: (858) 371-2575 or email: info@athleticedgept.com