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Make it a standard practice for women to receive…
A woman goes through insane amount of physical, mental emotional journey when carrying a child in her womb. The uterus , abdominal muscles, vagina stretching to ten times its size , trauma to the pelvic floor muscles, abdominal muscles, incisions, the pressure on the joints of pelvis , hips , lower body , spine , pulling on the shoulder-upper back, abdominal contents being pushed and squeezed back , ligaments stretching to accommodate the baby, added pounds that we carry around for 9 months and after , hormonal changes, sleep deprivation, swollen feet , swollen everything!!!!!
In routine prenatal visits to OBGY, no attention was paid on any of it except for asking me about pain and having me fill out PPD questionnaire only ONCE. Keeping my attention on the physical part of this journey at this time (since I’m a Physical therapist), it really bothered me as to why the women dont get send to an orthopedic physical therapist or a pelvic PT !???
Every women giving birth in France gets sent to a physiotherapist to rehabilitate her pelvic floor and additional visits if needed as a part of government funded program.
As a consumer, I’d want Physical therapy keep my body at its optimal state and be the healthiest fittest as I can be to carry my baby and as a Physical therapy provider I feel we could be serving 1000s and 1000 more women in keeping at their best self during pregnancy and post natal period, which we as physical therapy providers are missing out on! and more importantly to keep women/ mothers in the workforce , reduce other medical cost/burden (low back pain , incontinence , prolapse , diastases recti to name a few conditions that can arise with pregnancy and child birth and is not pertinent to any pre existing medical conditions) on the individual and the company , reduce sick days, improve productivity, improve quality of life of mothers and hence the family.
If you’ve made this far, stay with me here, this is important- I received a free breast pump through my insurance as a part of the affordable care act and that was great as every mother needs it and it’s a necessity!
So my question is why our services as a Physical therapist are not considered essential and given to the expecting women and new mothers as a part of the service NEEDED to thrive in this stage of their lives- through the insurance or by the government. (Just like the breast pump!!!)
We need to make better pre natal physical therapy and mandatory post natal physical therapy a standard practice for every women going through pregnancy and child birth.
Please help us help everyone and move this country forward.
(Picture of my Baby’s rainbow butt to signify better days on the horizon)
