By: Dr. Kandyce Mutter, BScKin, DC ICPA Webster Certified There’s no question that a woman goes through tremendous changes during the nine months of pregnancy. The most obvious physical changes that are likely to affect the spine will begin to occur during the second trimester. As the uterus grows to accommodate the fetus, the lumbar curve of the spine will …
5 Easy Exercises to Help Ease Pregnancy Aches and Pains
By: Sigourney Cross Pelvic and low back pain during pregnancy affects up to two-thirds of women and can start anytime from the first trimester to months after giving birth.1 This is due to a couple of reasons. First, there is a change in your hormone levels. Increased levels of the hormones relaxin, estrogen and progesterone begin to loosen the ligaments …
Nutrition During Pregnancy
By: Nicole Davis We have heard the saying “you are what you eat” – all of our body’s tissues – organs, skin, muscles, fascia, etc. – and our body’s chemical messengers – hormones and neurotransmitters – are composites of what we put in our mouths. The more quality foods we allow in, the healthier our tissues. Yet in the United …
Your Body After Baby: 5 methods to safely return to fitness following pregnancy
By: Guest Blogger – Kristen Herlihy On January 16, 2019 at 1:30pm EST PHRC Cofounder Elizabeth Akincilar and Baby Boot Camp instructor Kristen Herlihy will be discussing postpartum fitness! For information on how to tune in and listen, please visit their Facebook page. In the spirit of this talk, Kristen wanted to share her thoughts on our blog. As …
Antenatal and Postpartum Pelvic Floor Physical Therapy as Standard of Care
By Dr. Ann Croghan, PT, DPT, CLC, and CAPP-OB trained with introduction by Stephanie Prendergast, MPT A few months ago I shared a link to an article I was interviewed for in Men’s Health Magazine about postpartum sex on our PHRC Facebook Page. I was disappointed there was not better coverage about postpartum pelvic floor physical therapy in …
Childbirth Medical Interventions and Pelvic Floor Dysfunction
By Natalie Christopherson As a pregnant woman and pelvic floor physical therapist, I am surrounded by stories, advice, and opinions about the right way to give birth. Most of us know that pregnancy and childbirth often result in trauma to the pelvic floor and perineum, which can lead to incontinence, pelvic organ prolapse, and painful sex, among other …
This is Us: a look inside PHRC
By Stephanie Prendergast January is often the time to reflect on the past year and set goals for the future. So, in that spirit, we thought it would be fun to dedicate this post to a few top Pelvic Health and Rehabilitation Center events of 2017….and a peak forward to 2018. In no particular order, here’s what happened …
C-section Scar Problems and Solutions from a Pelvic Floor Physical Therapist
By Shannon Pacella If you’re reading this, you probably know what a Cesarean birth (C-section) is,* but what you may not know is what to do once you have had one. Most women post C-section are not given much information regarding their healing incision, except to “keep it clean in order to prevent infection.” *A Cesarean birth …
Pelvic Pain and Childbirth. Dr. Mark Conway tells us what we need to know.
By Elizabeth Akincilar-Rummer As we learned in a recent previous post by Stephanie Prendergast, the vast majority of women are not well informed when it comes to their pelvic floor, pregnancy and childbirth. In fact, 93% of women felt like they were insufficiently informed about their pelvic health! Unlike the rest of the population, many of our patients …
More Than The Baby Blues?
By Melinda Fontaine The majority of women experience some emotional fluctuations known as the Baby Blues in the first three weeks after they give birth, and it is natural. A smaller, but still significant percentage of women will experience Perinatal Mood and/or Anxiety Disorders (PMADs) before or after giving birth. There is a pressure for moms to feel …
Postpartum sex, your pelvic floor and your body
By Jandra Mueller It is now the six week mark and you are at your postpartum check up and are told by your doctor, everything looks great, you can resume having sex. You’ve finally hit this goal that everyone talks about- “six weeks.” But what does that really mean? Does it mean that everything ‘down there’ is back …
Reducing perineal trauma during labor and delivery
By Stephanie Prendergast Who doesn’t love a crowning baby cake? If our image didn’t catch your eye the title of this post probably did if you are pregnant or thinking about becoming pregnant. Last week we presented a pelvic health quiz about the role of the pelvic floor muscles play in childbirth. This week we share the answers …
What women do and don’t know about childbirth and their pelvic floor muscles
By Stephanie Prendergast Recently, a number of studies were published on what women do and don’t know about their pelvic floor muscles, childbirth, and longer-term pelvic health. How much do you actually know? Take our quiz and find out! If you do not know the answers, don’t fret. You are amongst 93% of women who felt like …
Beating the Odds: How one woman overcame a traumatic birth and had a successful second birth
By Malinda Wright Childbirth is no picnic: 85% of women who deliver vaginally experience perineal trauma and a third of those women in the USA and UK require stitches.2 The thought of having another baby after having gone through a traumatic birth can be daunting, to say the least. Returning to sex can also seem like a feat, …
Yoga throughout Pregnancy and Beyond
By Shannon Pacella This week Shannon Pacella of the Pelvic Health and Rehabilitation Center interviews a yoga instructor about the benefits of yoga before and delivery. What is a typical Prenatal Yoga class like (length of the class, any specific areas of focus)? Each prenatal yoga class can vary widely, depending on the teacher’s style, the …
Fertility: The Other F Word
By Rachel Gelman The older I get, the more I realize that there is another ‘F-word.’ For many people it is a harmless word, but for others it carries the same weight as any other profanity. I am talking about fertility. For a portion of people who are sexually active, fertility is a scary word. For some, fertility …
Pelvic Girdle Pain During Pregnancy
By Nicole Davis We all know one or two of those superhero mamas that REALLY enjoy being pregnant. You know, the ones that can eat anything without feeling nauseous during their first trimester or the ones that are able to run 20 miles a week until they deliver. Yes, pregnancy is a beautiful part of life and yes, …
What is the Fetus Ejection Reflex and is it real?
By Katie Hunter “In the wild, mother and young have a better chance of survival if the mother can regulate labor so that the young are born in safe, quiet surroundings.” –Niles Newton, behavioral scientist and professor at Northwestern University circa 1987 Before I explain what all of this means… let’s go over some of the facts. …
Time to Man Up: The Future of Male Birth Control
By Elizabeth Akincilar-Rummer MEN!!! Are you ready?? Birth Control for men is here….almost. Contraception. For some of us, that word has been a saving grace in preventing unwanted pregnancies and diseases. For others, it is fraught with moral and ethical dilemmas. But, those who are the most concerned with and often the most involved with contraception, are …
Diastasis Recti: Closing The Gap Between Research and Function
By Jandra Mueller During pregnancy and the postpartum period, many women suffer from both functional and cosmetic issues caused from the widening of the abdominal wall from stretch and pressure generated from the growing uterus. This stretching can result in a separation of the rectus abdominis muscle, known as a diastasis recti (DR). Diastasis recti occur in approximately …
Painfree childbirth, peaceful labor, comfortable delivery: the practice of hypnobirthing
Photo: David J Laporte By Melinda Fontaine Peaceful labor? Comfortable delivery? Calm childbirth? Do these sound like oxymorons? It’s true! Jane was a young woman who saw a segment on TV about HypnoBirthing. She saw pregnant women who looked like they were concentrating really hard on an abdominal workout or a challenging algebra equation. Then …