The woman who has given birth to a child can't afford it. Whether it's a normal delivery or a cesarean section, the woman needs to do pelvic floor rehabilitation after delivery. The reason is that progesterone can make the pelvic floor loose, and the process of labor can also damage the pelvic floor muscles and even loosen some of the ligaments.
What are the adverse effects?
Laxity of the pelvic floor muscles may lead to vaginal laxity, lower abdominal distension, frequent urination, dissatisfaction in married life, and in severe cases, urinary incontinence, pelvic organ prolapse, chronic pelvic pain, and so on.
The earlier the pelvic floor rehabilitation is done, the better the result! A year after giving birth is the "golden time" for pelvic floor muscle function to recover! If you don't do any training, the symptoms will get worse as you get older and your hormone levels drop.
Misconceptions about the pelvic floor muscle
Misconceptions 1: I don't know what the pelvic floor muscle is
It has been found in the clinic that a lot of people don't know what the pelvic floor muscle is, or where it contracts. First of all, to understand the physiological structure of the female pelvic floor, the pelvic floor by the closed pelvic outlet of the multi-layer muscle and fascia, there is the urethra, vagina, rectum through which the pelvic floor muscle groups, fascia, ligaments and extremely nerve constitute a complex pelvic floor support system, support and maintain the uterus, the bladder, the rectum and other pelvic organs of the normal physiological position and function.
This also determines the three main physiological functions of the pelvic floor muscles - one is to control women's urination and defecation; the second is to support the pelvic organs and maintain the normal position of the pelvic organs; and the third is to maintain the satisfaction of sexual life.
Myth 2: Only normal labor has an effect on the pelvic floor muscles, and cesarean section does not.
Some pregnant women have urine leakage when sneezing or coughing, also called stress urinary incontinence, in late pregnancy. So, pelvic floor dysfunction occurs during pregnancy.
In the case of a normal birth, the over-distension of the vagina as the fetus passes through the birth canal tears the muscles, ligaments, and fascia that support the pelvic floor, which can result in bulging of the anterior and posterior walls of the vagina and vaginal laxity. Similarly, in the case of a cesarean section, the pelvic floor damage has been caused during pregnancy, so the pelvic floor muscle strength will also be reduced after delivery.
Myth 3: Pelvic floor muscle damage can be recovered by itself
Most of the mothers do not feel any change in the pelvic floor muscle. Pelvic floor muscle strength screening is done on the 42nd day after delivery, through which it will be found that most women's pelvic floor muscle strength has decreased a lot. Normal muscle strength is grade 5, but after delivery there are many women whose pelvic floor muscle strength is only to grade 1-2, or even grade 0.
In case of pelvic floor dysfunction, it usually does not heal itself. Most primiparous women belong to patients with stress incontinence during pregnancy, and the symptoms of stress incontinence will be relieved after delivery. However, stress incontinence gets worse with age and the number of pregnancies.
Q1.What can a pregnant mom do to protect her pelvic floor muscles?
Pregnancy should develop a good exercise habit, such as: yoga, swimming, etc. These exercises are helpful for pregnant women to be able to maintain a certain degree of strength in the muscles of the whole body. In addition to weight control, but also timely treatment of cough, constipation and other diseases, because every time hard to defecate, repeated coughing, will damage the pelvic floor.
Q2. How can I exercise my pelvic floor muscles after giving birth?
Pelvic floor muscle screening and pelvic floor rehabilitation can be done 42 days after delivery and after the menstrual discharge is clean. If you have a pelvic floor muscle strength of 3 or more, you can instruct the mother to go home and practice pelvic floor contraction exercises; if your pelvic floor muscle strength is less than 3, you are recommended to go to the relevant postnatal restoration organization to have a professional pelvic floor rehabilitation treatment.