5 Expert Tips For Pelvic Floor Recovery
The health of your pelvic floor determines your freedom of movement, gait and overall body posture. Any woman with a strong pelvic floor can throw her head back when laughing, jump, run, sneeze without any fear of leaking and gain an enhanced sexual feeling when they get back their intimacy after childbirth or during menopause.
Here are some useful tips for pelvic floor recovery.
1. Strong Exercises
You need to try out exercises that strengthen your multifidus and transverse abdominis muscles which share the same neural pathway like your pelvic floor. When activated, these muscles should contract together to create a natural girdle in your body to protect the pelvic floor and spine from a huge load. You don’t need to suffer from lower back pain, prolapsed organs with dragging sensations or involuntary loss of urine. Exercising these muscles protects your pelvic floor from weakness and improves your gait, posture, contour, and range of movement. It may help if you try accessories, like these ben wa balls.
When you are on all fours, make sure your arms are directly under your shoulders. Your head and hips should be parallel to the floor. Tip the pelvis a little until there’s some tension across the base of your stomach. Breathe in to allow your tummy to expand. Hold your breath then use on hand to guide your belly button slightly inwards and up. Place the hand back on the floor then exhale.
2. Breathing
Breathing provides blood, oxygen and nutrients to every muscle in the body including the pelvic floor, allowing it to work effectively. To empower your pelvic floor, you should improve breathing especially from your diaphragm. Do this for 10 minutes every day to keep your pelvic muscles healthy and responsive.
You should stand in front of a mirror and carefully watch your body. Inhale through the nose then watch as your stomach and lungs expand as the air fills in. Your chest should also expand slightly. Basically, it should be a third of your chest and two-thirds of your tummy expanding. Inhaling should sound deep and should last for about 4 to 6 seconds. You can now exhale to empty the lungs from the chest going downwards. This is an important, yet easy step, for pelvic floor recovery.
3. Regular And Consistent Bowel Movements
Your bowel movements need to be consistent and regular. With a healthy gut, you can improve your entire well-being. Note that your gut hosts 100 trillion bacteria that support your detoxification as well as the immune, digestive and nervous systems. You can ensure a healthy bowel movement by taking a lot of fiber and water. Make sure you eat vegetables and fruits as well for the healthy bowel movements. If you need extra help, prunes and magnesium supplements like Natural Calm can help as well. Not putting undue stress on your bowels will help with quicker pelvic floor recovery.
4. Walking
It boosts your digestion system as well as the parasympathetic system (relaxation system). It provides digestion, rest and repair among many other functions. There are so many stressful stimuli in our environment such as TVs, smartphones, computers, long work hours and family responsibilities. Take 20 to 30 minutes for a walk every day and try avoiding screens at least an hour before going to bed. That way, the parasympathetic pathway can be stimulated and encourage proper sleep. Walking is a great exercise for pelvic floor recovery and your baby will enjoy it too!
5. Proper Sleep
Sleep is important if you want your body to repair itself. When you are asleep, your body handles the most effective psychogenic and physical repair. The optimal amount of sleep is 8 hours, but we know with a new baby that might be tricky!
How To Tackle Sleep Deprivation As A New Mother
Obviously, get as much sleep as you can, even if that means napping with the baby because, during this time, the body can heal, regenerate neural pathways in your brain and replenish the immune system as well as repairing the connective tissue and muscles. Getting a good night’s sleep also repairs your pelvic floor for more stability during your post-partum recovery period.
Having a baby is no easy task, but you can get your pre-baby body back and regain confidence with these tips for postpartum pelvic floor recovery!