Understanding Prenatal and Postnatal Physical Therapy
Pregnant women can experience core instability, weakness, and pain throughout the musculoskeletal system.
Women experience major hormonal and physical changes in their bodies during pregnancy and postpartum periods. They can experience discomfort, musculoskeletal issues, and aches that affect their well-being. Prenatal and postnatal physical therapy can relieve these issues and improve quality of life.
This article explores more details on the topic to help evaluate the necessity and benefits of the techniques.
Physical therapy during pregnancy
Pregnant women can experience core instability, weakness, and pain throughout the musculoskeletal system. In response to carrying a fetus, the body changes posture, which can profoundly affect muscles and bones.
In such a case, prenatal physical therapy can be the answer. It combines therapeutic taping, manual therapy, relaxation techniques, and body mechanics training to alleviate or reverse posture changes during pregnancy.
Changes during pregnancy
In the later stages of pregnancy, the pelvis widens, and ligaments loosen because of the relaxing hormone. Essentially, the body creates more space in the pelvic region for the developing fetus. The accompanying weight distribution changes can cause core instability and pelvic and rib pain, severely affecting everyday life function and how well the body performs during childbirth.
The benefits of physical therapy include:
Stress relief
Greater relaxation
Better postural alignment
Better body balance
Muscle imbalance correction
Joint mobility
To know whether physical therapy is the best option, talk to your doctor and only get these services from a professional. Therapy makes it easier to handle everyday tasks pain-free.
Postnatal physical therapy
Some women may experience pain after delivery, making it hard to participate in normal activities. The body may also experience some changes that were not there during the pregnancy or won’t reverse the changes to ligaments after childbirth. Consider speaking to a doctor about the postnatal physical therapy program in such a case. Therapy may involve stretching and proper exercise to alleviate pain and discomfort and revert the body to prenatal conditions.
Postnatal pain may also surface in body parts that were pain-free before, often affecting the pelvic floor and the core area. Sitting may become unbearable. Cramping and muscle spasms are also quite common. Assisted births may cause temporary nerve injuries, while a C-section could result in discomfort around the incision. A few of these postnatal issues may present years later.
Postnatal physical therapy strengthens the body and helps retrain the muscles. It offers relief to the nerves damaged during labor and childbirth. It also helps manage scar tissue for proper healing after a C-section.
Get expert assistance
Physical therapy is important before and after pregnancy. However, it should be done with a doctor’s authorization. Finding specialists in this field is the only way to get things done right and avoid a negative outcome. Working with experts helps alleviate the issues associated with prenatal and postnatal discomfort, ensuring a smoother transition to motherhood.
If you are looking for occupational or physical therapy, vestibular rehab, wheelchair training, learning to walk, unweighting aquatic therapy, or other services in the Phoenix area, please call Touchstone Rehabilitation at 602-277-1073.