The reason this is my blog this week is because at Buggyfit last week I had a lovely new lady who said she has been to the other Buggyfit class in South Bristol!! Alarm bells as there are no other official Buggyfit trainers in South Bristol and the one lady I know of is certainly NOT at a level I would want to be associated with.
My new lady said she did ‘leak’ at her first class, was around 8 weeks post birth and encouraged to run and was doing exercises she found uncomfortable – when she asked other ladies at the class if it was right to be ‘leaking’ they said ‘Yes, everyone does it after having kids and exercising’!!!!! Those who know me know I am now FUMING!!!!!
Ladies, NO – NO ONE should be exercising and leaking or feel her pelvic floor is uncomfortable – NO matter how many months or years post childbirth you are!!! It is so hard to think ahead, especially if you are a new mum aged 28 to be thinking about the menopause, but if you have had children, especially vaginally then when we get to the peri-menopause stage of life our pelvic floors start to become more prone to weakening, due to loss of muscle tone & hormonal imbalances. So if you have had any trauma there you will be even more prone to problems.
I am ashamed to say that unfortunately the fitness industry has no real accountable body so there are some trainers out there who say they are pre or post -natal trained but actually haven’t a clue. Or unfortunately a lot of the PT/gym instructor training companies do not have a good pre / post natal courses on offer and barely talk about the pelvic floor and wouldn’t have a clue about a ‘hypertonic’ ie over active/tight pelvic floor.
I am however, VERY happy to say there are more and more Bristol trainers now who HAVE been through the Burrell Education training courses or similar much more detailed women’s health training courses! Phew!!! I know some of you think I may be a bit OTT about the pelvic floor, not running/doing high intensity exercise too soon post birth – but I know a lot of you have also thanked me for that information too!!
If you have any odd feeling in your pelvic floor (both anteriorly & posteriorly) any heaviness, leaking, finding it uncomfortable to use tampons or having sex or it just doesn’t feel right; then your 1st port of call is to see a Women’s Health Physio (ask your GP for a referral or ask me for private ones) and stop doing the exercise that makes it feel worse. You may have an overtight pelvic floor (hypertonic) or you may find that you can have a pessary – they come in all sizes and different types to suit you – but you would be best seeing the Women’s Health Physio for this.
I would of course always recommend my Holistic Core Restore® Everywoman course as I have had so many fantastic results for those with pelvic floor issues. It is an educational course where you learn about your body and how to use every day exercises to help in everyday situations. The September course is now full but you can have a look at the November course. It is now being offered as a 12 week course, 6 weeks at the class and 6 weeks home videos which you can do anywhere and which follows on from the practical course. https://www.vickihill.co.uk/classes/new-mums-holistic-core-restore/
