Hello everyone and Happy New Year!
My apologies for taking so long between blog posts but the holidays are always a fun and hectic time of year.
Hopefully, I’ll be able to update more regularly.
For this blog, I wanted to focus on a woman’s recovery from pregnancy and delivery.
Having a baby is a miraculous and joyous occasion but it really does a number on your body. Especially after having the baby because your body has 9 months to gradually adapt and adjust to the growing baby but then there is a massive sudden change once the baby is born.
Some women’s bodies have difficulty adapting to the sudden change, some have difficult labor, and some undergo a C-section (planned or unplanned). All of these factors and possibilities can have an effect on a woman’s body and sometimes the body needs help returning to a balanced position.
Here are some things to consider from an organ perspective:
Small intestines
- Can feel weak after a leg workout (if small intestines are not able to move as they should)
- Lower abdominal distension (if small intestines are not able to move as they should)
- Can create diastasis recti this is a condition where the abdominal muscles pull apart which can lead to a feeling of instability. For more info on diastasis recti, check out Dr. Carrie Pagliano our colleague’s blog.
- In the below picture, the circled white band is what connects the 2 sides of abdominal muscles together and this is where the separation occurs
- It occurs due to the growing baby pushing everything up and out and sometimes, it doesn’t go back on its own
Kidney
- prolonged labor can cause the right kidney to get stuck which leads to back pain and possible radiating pain into right leg
These are key areas that affect your body’s recovery from both pregnancy and childbirth.
With a gentle manual technique called visceral release (organ work), I have worked on women who have had children, both recent and years before treatment, with great results. The treatment while subtle is effective and has longevity. I had someone with a 4 finger width separation of the band between the abdominal muscles that was reduced to less than ½ a finger width in 3 sessions. Someone else with 2.5 finger width separation down to ½ a finger width in one session.
From a structural perspective, the pelvis has widened to allow for the growth of the baby which stretches all of the ligaments around the pelvis and lower back. The muscles may have to work harder to keep the body structurally balanced due to the stretched ligaments and the muscles then do not know how to return to their normal resting state. Women start to move differently during pregnancy as the baby grows and these new movement patterns become habits so they continue to move this way even after the baby is born.
These are some reasons it can be beneficial to get some treatments to re-balance your body during pregnancy and after you’ve had a baby. Your body will function more optimally if it is balanced, and it may prevent problems further down the road. This is true, even you haven’t had a baby. Visceral release is not only for moms , many of our high level active adults come in to see me to help maintain their bodies moving optimally.
I hope you found this information helpful. If you have any questions, feel free to reach out to me at courtney@omniwellnessperformance.com
Until next time,
Courtney
