Myofascial Release helps Postpartum Issues

So pregnancy and postpartum recovery are more complicated than most people will tell you, and if you’ve been through it, you know. I’m not talking about the everyone-goes-through-it recovery stuff. I’m talking about if you have trouble beyond normal recovery, if you’re slow to recover, or if you ended up with persistent weakness, pain or other issues.

If you’ve been wondering how long before you feel better and things start working right again, you should talk to your closest skilled myofascial release therapist.

Postpartum Issue: Constipation

The other night my wife asked me to perform a bladder release technique. She’d been having trouble with constipation and remembered the technique from the Women’s Health seminar a few years back. She hadn’t been able to experience it, she was pregnant at the time, but thought it might be helpful.
It’s been 13 months since she was pregnant and she’s been having trouble this whole time. Sadly, I don’t treat her as much as we’d like. Funny thing about pregnancy, if all goes reasonably well, it ends in a kid. Probably the biggest time-consumption device ever conceived. (See what I did there?) The internet has got nothing on one of these babies! (I’m on a roll! Hmm, I think they make you a little loopy too…)

So anyway, we took some time after putting the kids to bed and got set up to do the bladder release. No, it’s not about emptying the bladder. (And I thought I was the one twisting things…) Basically, she sat at the edge of our bed with me on a chair in front of her so that I could position my fingers and slowly sink them into the tissues of her low abdomen, just above her pubic bone. As my fingers engaged with these tissues, I could feel how tight and stuck they were. Gradually the tissues released and shifted over the next few minutes. As this was going on, my wife could feel how the restricted tissue reached further into her body and contributed to pains and weakness that she had been dealing with in her side and hip. Eventually I eased my pressure, then for good measure also did a respiratory diaphragm release. (Same idea, but just under the ribcage.) Again, she was able to feel connections to pains and issues that she’d been having trouble with, including some back pain.

Afterwards, she felt better, freer in her abdomen. I hadn’t felt any huge change, but that doesn’t always mean anything. This morning she tells me that she has been doing much better, things are moving. I thought, “Hey, the internet needs to hear about this!”

What Postpartum Issues can Myofascial Release help?

Myofascial release helps and is appropriate in a great number of situations and that’s easy to see once you understand that the fascial (or connective) tissue is everywhere and affects everything. Pregnancy is a serious event for your body and it will both exacerbate old, even hidden, problems as well as create new ones. These stresses and traumas can cause a great deal of fascial restrictions, which bind and pull on pain-sensitive structures and organs with excessive force. Releasing the restrictions and restoring the tissues to easy mobility and appropriate tensions will greatly improve the feel of your body and its ability to heal.

Here are some of the common postpartum issues. Having trouble with any of these? Again, you should seek out a skilled myofascial release therapist. If I’m not in your neighborhood, let me point you to the directory.

• C-section scars **You should see a therapist even if you don’t notice any issues. Incisions and tears should always be treated. They frequently cause problems, and not always obvious ones.
• Episiotomy scars **Same as C-section scars.
• Endometriosis
• Incontinence
• Constipation
• Hemorrhoids
• Prolapse
• Painful or Uncomfortable Intercourse

But even non-common things that have troubled you during or since your pregnancy can be helped. Things without labels, like that back, hip, or abdominal pain or weakness. Difficulty getting comfortable to sleep. The heartburn or reflux or…

**Soapbox moment**

We tolerate too much dysfunction and pain in our society. Pregnancy is not supposed to be so hard, and neither is the recovery, but so often you’re told you just have to live with it. No. No you don’t.

There are usually unrecognized fascial restrictions that are creating problems. Release them and you will do and feel so much better.

Okay, off my soapbox. But seriously, you want to feel better? Let’s get in touch.