What do postpartum recovery physical therapists do?

Simply put, our core job is to use non-surgical, low-invasive professional methods to help women who have experienced pregnancy and childbirth improve the various physical and psychological discomforts caused by pregnancy and childbirth, and try our best to help them return their physical condition to a comfortable range. We are neither the "IQ tax promoter" uploaded on the Internet, nor are we ordinary technicians who can only rub their bellies and breasts.

Last week, I met a mother who was 3 months after giving birth naturally. She leaked urine when she held her baby for a long time and coughed, and her waist hurt so much that she couldn't straighten up. The first thing she said when she came in was, "My friend said you are all trying to make money. I really couldn't bear the pain so I came here to try it." I was not in a hurry to give her a project. I first measured her rectus abdominis separation and pelvic floor muscle strength. I also asked her if she had pubic pain during pregnancy, if she had any side incision during childbirth, and if she always had her arms clasped around her waist when breastfeeding. Finally, I determined that her urine leakage was caused by pelvic floor muscles. The fiber strength was insufficient, and the low back pain was caused by rectus abdominis separation and long-term poor breastfeeding posture. She was prescribed pelvic floor muscle electrical stimulation + rectus abdominis manual reset twice a week, plus 3 sets of simple movements that she could do at home, and she was not asked to buy any extra items.

It’s no wonder that mothers are wary when they first come up. The industry is indeed mixed now. Many people think that postpartum recovery is all about IQ tax. There are also many mothers who have fallen into the pitfalls - some physical therapists who have not received systematic training come up with test reports to scare people, saying, "You will definitely miscarry if you get pregnant after three fingers of rectus abdominis separation" and "Your husband will definitely dislike you after the pelvic floor muscles are relaxed." They force people to buy packages worth tens of thousands of yuan, which has ruined the reputation of the entire industry.

As a veteran physiotherapist who has a nationally recognized rehabilitation qualification and has been working as a doctor for five or six years, we actually don’t know how to do this kind of thing. When we meet a mother with only one finger of rectus abdominis separation and no obvious discomfort, we will directly advise her to practice abdominal breathing and Kegel exercises at home without spending money on physical therapy. The daily work is also very broken. Sometimes a new mother will cry in pain when her breasts are blocked in the middle of the night. I send her a message and I have to quickly teach her how to apply warm potato slices and how to express milk by hand without hurting the breast glands. ； When encountering mothers who have had caesarean sections, they have to help them deal with scar hyperplasia and teach them how to massage to reduce the probability of postoperative adhesions. ； There are also some mothers who feel that their hips are too wide after giving birth and cannot fit into their previous pants. When they come over for adjustments, they secretly wipe their tears and say that their husbands think they have become ugly. We are adjusting the pelvis and have to explain a few words. After all, many signs of postpartum depression are caused by these little things that no one cares about.

Speaking of which, we are actually a bit like "body maintenance workers" for postpartum women. Pregnancy and childbirth are like the house you have lived in for several years. It has been slowly stretched out of shape by the baby for ten months. The walls are cracked (rectus abdominis diastasis), the foundation is loose (pelvic floor muscle damage), and the water pipes are blocked (breast glands are clogged). We will not remodel you into a new one. We will not boast about "returning to a teenage figure after pregnancy". After all, many of the effects of pregnancy and childbirth on the body are irreversible. What we can do is to repair these minor problems little by little, so that you don't have to worry about urinary leakage, low back pain, blocked breasts and other troubles every day. You can take good care of your baby and live your own life well.

The mother who had leaked urine last week came for her third physiotherapy session yesterday. She said that she had not leaked urine even after carrying her baby to the third floor yesterday. She held my hand and said that she would have come earlier if she had known about it. At that time, I felt that although I was occasionally misunderstood, doing this job was still quite meaningful.