Your body is not broken.
Your body is adaptable.
During pregnancy, your body accommodates your growing babe by finding new patterns of breathing and moving.
You develop compensations. Adaptations.
These compensations are smart strategies your body develops so you can keep doing the things you want to do.
These compensations include changes in your reflexive breathing patterns, alignment and biomechanics.
Along the way, tissues stretch. Organs get smooshed out of the way.
And maybe these compensations result in conditions like prolapse, diastasis recti, incontinence.
Here’s what I want you to know:
It’s going to be okay.
While you can’t 100% reverse some of these conditions, most of the time, these things are very manageable.
These conditions evolved in response to your pregnnacy breathing, alignment and movement patterns. In postpartum, you can manage them by tweaking those patterns. You can find different patterns that better serve your postpartum body.
Here’s the upshot:
Diastasis is extremely responsive to conservative treatment (–> physical therapy).
Prolapse can’t be “cured” but it is very possible to manage its symptoms.
Incontinence is frequently solvable by retraining your reflexive core function.
Even with a diagnosis of prolapse, diastasis recti, incontinence or tight pelvic floor muscles, your best, strongest life is ahead of you.
None of these things are a death sentence for your active lifestyle.
Language matters.
As Cyndie Spiegel writes in A Year of Positive Thinking, “The words you use determine the world you inhabit.”
I encourage you think about the language you use to describe the changes your body underwent during pregnancy.
Consider replacing “dysfunction” with “compensation” or “functional adaptation”.
And then, work on those patterns!
For professional guidance and treatment, look up your friendly, local pelvic floor physical therapist.
A qualified postnatal trainer can complement your rehab efforts and support your return to higher level sports and activities.
You can also find more information in these articles:
5 Things You Should Know About Your Remarkable, Resilient Postpartum Body
Pelvic Floor “Dysfunction” in Pregnancy and Postpartum and Why You Probably Need a Reboot
Strength is a Journey, Not a Destination
If you’ve navigating a return to fitness, sports or an active lifestyle with a pelvic floor condition- tell me about it in the comment section below!
Let me know if you think reframing your language around your condition is helpful. 🦋
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My mission is to make sure that having a baby is not a reason why you can’t do all the things.
Contact me if you have questions about exercise or pelvic health pertaining to pregnancy or postpartum. I also offer personal training services and consultations to folks locally (Seattle, Bellevue, Redmond, Kirkland) and online.
Certified Prenatal & Postnatal Coach, Pregnancy & Postpartum Athleticism Coach and Postnatal Fitnesses Specialist.
