Let’s just call it like it is: Carrying and delivering a baby is a traumatic experience. Yes, it’s first and foremost a beautiful, awe-inspiring experience, one that brings purpose, joy and love. So. Much. Love.
But it also causes trauma, especially to a woman’s entire body (and sometimes to her mental state), and in particular, to her abdominal wall and pelvic floor.
This was the case for Morgan Dresser, a Phoenix Fire Department firefighter who had her baby, Jackson, last fall (part of the most darling baby boom in the history of the PFD—eight babies in just a few months!). Carrying a healthy baby and giving birth was an exciting feat in a string of physical accomplishments for Morgan, but of a totally different kind than she was used to.
“Throughout my life, I have always been a go getter. If I wanted something, I would do everything in my power to achieve it. When I told myself I would become an Ironman, I hired a trainer, read all the books, and followed the training plan to the T to complete the race. The same with becoming a firefighter. I put my all into everything,” Dresser says. “Becoming pregnant and giving birth was no different! I read all the books, took all the classes, and prepared as much as I could. After giving birth, my once selfish ways became selfless as I fully cared for another. I had to surrender to the process of becoming and unbecoming.”
As much as this first-time mom had prepped for this demanding new role, there were some surprises. During pregnancy, Morgan suffered from diastasis recti, when the rectus abdominis muscles (also known as the “six-pack”) become separated by a larger distance than is optimal.
Diastasis recti sounds terrifying, but it’s actually common in both pregnant women and new moms. In fact, one study* indicates that 66% of women experience it during the third trimester, and more than half of women still have it immediately postpartum and several weeks beyond. Compounding the issue, diastasis recti is also typically accompanied by pelvic floor problems (including pelvic pain and incontinence—ah, yes, so many “joys” of new momhood).
The Role of Postpartum Pelvic Floor Therapy
This is where pelvic floor therapy comes in, and having a pelvic floor therapist on her support squad—in this case, Nikki Ron, DPT, OCS, WCS, NAIOMT—helped Morgan learn to coordinate her muscles and teach them to fire in the right order, so she could be strong as a mother, athlete and firefighter.
Nikki explains it this way: “Postpartum pelvic floor rehabilitation is going to look not only at how a woman moves and how she recruits and uses her body, but specifically at how she uses the pelvic floor: Is it weak and overstretched and does it need strengthening? Or is it tight, guarded and having spasms and needs to release, relax and lengthen? Is it coordinating appropriately for the movements she wants to do?”
Pelvic floor dysfunction isn’t something we’ve addressed historically in our culture, but that’s changing. “In other countries, that’s the standard of care, that new moms go immediately to physical therapy to rehabilitate the pelvic floor,” says Nikki. “It makes sense, right? What other muscle in your body do you tear, and not rehabilitate? For some reason your pelvic floor doesn’t get the same thought.”
Baby Steps: From The Delivery Room to The Weight Room
Likewise, the ideal of female strength has been skewed to indicate that we should be jumping from the delivery room immediately back into the crossfit gym or out running or lifting weights, Nikki says. “For Morgan, and for a lot of women who have been fit before and during pregnancy, it’s a real struggle to slow down, and to recognize that they can’t go immediately back to where they were before.”
Morgan agrees that this was a challenging time that required her to reset expectations and adjust her pace. “No one talks about all the crazy things that happen to your body after pregnancy. Being an athlete, and a naturally very active person, I mean, I knew there would be some time to recover. But six weeks? Come on! The problem I had before discovering physical therapy was the realization that the body I knew was now unfamiliar to me. I knew I needed to get back into shape, I just did not know how to do it correctly and safely.”
Although Morgan started out feeling frustrated that her body didn’t quickly snap back to a place where she could train with the intensity she was used to, she quickly realized that, 1) slowing down was ok and a necessary part of her process, and 2) she had a strong support team in Nikki.
“Nikki was very kind and understanding of what my physical and mental state was,” Morgan says. “She explained each step of the exam, my issues, all very detailed in a language I could understand and relate to. She brought light to the fact that I am not the first woman who needed help to get back into shape safely. I felt very comfortable with Nikki and her assistant Sabrina! They understood what my goals were, but kept me level-headed. Nikki would individualize my workouts, catering them towards my career as a professional firefighter. Not only was she my physical therapist, but she became a friend.”
Nikki taught Morgan the step-by-step process she needed to take to correct her abdominal and pelvic floor dysfunction. “So much of physical therapy is mind-body-spirit, and especially in postpartum women who are dealing with sleep loss and when their whole world has shifted, the education piece is so important,” Nikki says.
With Patience and Persistence Comes Progress
Morgan’s breakthrough moment came when she did her first sit-up in almost a year. “It felt amazing. I knew at that moment that I was going to accelerate quickly. Nikki and Sabrina really knew how to push me and keep my therapy on track.”
Therapy helped Morgan be conscious of her breathing and how she was engaging her muscles in every activity, not just during physical therapy, which led to triumph in her firefighting physical. “I am now able to put my firefighting turnouts on, run through drills, run up towers, and keep our community safe without any issues! Life as a firefighter, athlete, and new mother is not easy. But taking the steps to ensure my body and mind are strong keeps me motivated to train and be the best mother and firefighter I can be. I am now a huge advocate of any pregnant or postpartum mother to visit a pelvic floor physical therapist.”
Not every mom needs to be in firefighting shape, but nearly every mom—expecting or postpartum—can benefit from pelvic floor therapy. Take our Cozean Pelvic Dysfunction questionnaire to see if you might have the signs of pelvic floor dysfunction, and set up an appointment today to find out how our pelvic floor therapists at Spooner Physical Therapy can help you be the strong mom you’re meant to be.
Learn more about Pelvic Health at Spooner Physical Therapy. Ready to schedule an appointment? Click Here to schedule an appointment or complimentary movement screen with a Spooner physical therapist at one of our locations throughout the valley.
Sources:
(provided by Nikki Ron, DPT, OCS, WCS, NAIOMT): https://dianelee.ca/article-diastasis-rectus-abdominis.php