Labor and Delivery Prep

Birth is a physical event, and like any event, it deserves preparation. Pelvic floor therapy with a focus on labor and delivery prep is a great resource for educating yourself and your body!

Some main focuses:

• Pelvic floor coordination: how to relax and lengthen the pelvic floor
• Breathing techniques to support pushing
• Perineal mobility
• Birth positioning strategies
• Optimizing movement patterns for birth
• Reducing fear around pushing and tearing
• Your partner’s role in birth
• Education about your body!

Pregnancy Related Pain Relief & Management  

Throughout pregnancy, your body undergoes a lot of physical and physiological changes. With the correct manual skills, neuromuscular re-education, and targeted strengthening. We can help relieve your pain. You do not have to “just deal” with symptoms that come with pregnancy.

Here are some of the things we treat with pregnancy physical therapy:

• Strengthening key postural muscles to decrease orthopedic pain
• Urinary Leakage
• Pelvic Instability: SI Joint and Pubic Symphysis pain
• Lower back pain
• Hip pain
• Round ligament pain and abdominal tension
• Pelvic pressure

Treatment can also include pelvic support strategies, taping or braces and movement modifications.

Postpartum Recovery After Vaginal Delivery

At pelvic floor physical therapy, we assess your pelvic health, function, coordination, strength and structure after delivery. We look to retrain your body through coordination training of your pelvic floor, core and breath work, scar tissue mobilizations and nervous system regulation. Postpartum is a long journey and we look to guide your body’s natural healing responses in the right direction- emphasizing integrity of tissues, proper function and return to exercise or desired level of function.

Recovery doesn’t end at your 6-week checkup! We assess and treat:

• Pelvic floor weakness or tightness
• Perineal tears and scar mobility
• Urinary or fecal leakage
• Pelvic heaviness or prolapse symptoms
• Pain with intercourse
• Core weakness and diastasis recti
• Tailbone pain
• Return to exercise/running

Our goal is to help you feel supported in recovery.

C-Section Rehabilitation

A cesarean section delivery is a major abdominal surgery and needs to be treated like one! Incisions are made through multiple layers of tissues in your abdomen and uterus- meaning all those layers need rehab and recovery. Scar tissue forms as a natural part of healing, but it can need proper mobilization throughout to avoid restrictions.

Think:

• Abdominal tightness or “shelf” appearance
• Numbness or hypersensitivity around the scar
• Scar mobility: pulling or tugging with movement
• Pain with exercise
• Breath work/ Rib cage mobility
• Abdominal wall coordination/ Core weakness
• Diastasis recti

This doesn’t limit our rehab plans to your abdomen. Even though your baby may not have passed through your vaginal canal, your pelvic floor, abdominal wall, hormones, nervous system, and posture were still profoundly affected by pregnancy and delivery.

Additional areas to be assessed include:

• Urinary leakage
• Pelvic floor coordination
• Pain-free intercourse
• Pelvic heaviness
• Back pain
• Lifting mechanics

Return to Exercise and Activity

Pelvic floor physical therapy helps you heal fully, move confidently, and prevent long-term dysfunction. A gradual progression when returning to exercise is important. Getting cleared at 6 weeks does not mean your body is ready to pick up where it left off!

We guide you through:

• Strength training modifications- pelvic floor and total body!
• Safe return-to-running progressions
• Impact tolerance testing
• Urinary leakage
• Core loading progression to avoid DRA or Coning
• Breathing mechanics and coordination
• Symptom monitoring: leakage, pressure, pain
• Orthopedic conditions

“I went to Solstice PT after training for the NYC Marathon while pregnant. They treated my symptoms and helped me get ready for labor. I also worked with them postpartum – they made the fourth trimester so much easier for me. So grateful for the whole Solstice team.”