At Roswell OB/GYN, we offer extensive pelvic floor rehabilitation in Atlanta with pelvic floor therapy designed to restabilize and restrengthen critical tissues and muscles.
During pregnancy, the organs shift and experience abnormal pressure that can lead to feelings of fullness, urinary or bowel leaks, constipation, muscle spasms, and pain in the pelvic area, back, and genitals or during sex. Known as pelvic-floor prolapse, the condition can diminish a person’s quality of life when left unaddressed post-partum.
In this guide, we discuss the benefits of treatment, the top exercises used during pelvic floor therapy, and warning signs that should prompt a person to seek intervention from specialists.
What are the Benefits of Pelvic Floor Rehabilitation?
Experts and researchers providing pelvic floor rehabilitation in Atlanta have found that strengthening the pelvic floor area during pelvic floor therapy actually reverses problems related to sexual sensation, function, and satisfaction among men and women, in addition to reducing pain and other previously mentioned symptoms.
What Top Exercises Restore the Pelvic Muscles?
Therapy specialists offering pelvic floor rehabilitation in Atlanta often break the exercises into two groups based on the type of problems taking place on the pelvic floor.
There are five recommended exercises, two designed to lengthen and work more optimally in individuals with overly tight or hypertonic muscles, and three designed to improve endurance and strength in those with weak or hypotonic muscles.
Diaphragmatic Breathing
If you have hypertonic muscles, you can start by focusing on how you breathe during rehabilitation or practice diaphragmatic breathing. This treatment of the pelvic muscles prepares you for all the other techniques and helps reduce stress and improve feelings of relaxation.
To start diaphragmatic breathing, rest on your back flat on a mat or sit upright in a chair, place one hand on your stomach and one on your chest and then breathe in through the nose for a few seconds and exhale through the mouth gently several times.
Happy Baby Pose
For the happy baby pose rehabilitation exercise, stretch by laying back on the floor and bending your knees at a 90-degree angle toward your chest while extending your feet with the soles pointing up.
Gently grip the inside or outside of each foot, open your knees wide, drag your feet back toward the shoulders with your ankles above the knees, then push your feet into your hands while flexing your heels and practicing gentle breathing or side-to-side motion.
Kegel Exercise
Another exercise for pelvic floor rehabilitation in Atlanta for those with hypotonic muscles starts with quick muscle contractions, most commonly used to prevent leakage.
To perform quick flick Kegels, rest on your back on the floor with your feet flat. As you improve your pelvic muscles, you can perform Kegels while standing or seated over two to three sets. Exhale while pulling the abdomen toward the spine to create a contraction for at least a second and then release. Repeat 10 times, rest for 10 seconds and repeat.
Toe Taps
Start by lying flat with your back and feet on the floor. Experts recommend inhaling through the nose and exhaling through the mouth to feel like the ribs are compressing while the pelvic floor is tilted up.
Then, slowly lift one leg until it’s 90 degrees to the torso, hold for a second, return it to the resting position, and then repeat with the other leg for a maximum of 20 times total.
Heel Slides
Once again in the same position as the last exercise, with your back and feet flat on the floor, begin breathing evenly, drawing up your pelvic floor and then sliding your heel slowly away from them for a short distance. Repeat with the opposite leg and follow with ten heel slides per leg.
Is Professional Assistance Necessary?
If you’re experiencing issues with your pelvic muscles, professional pelvic floor rehabilitation in Atlanta is usually necessary to reverse bladder and bowel difficulties. To determine the best exercise routine or pelvic floor therapy method to improve pelvic muscles, please don’t hesitate to contact us at Roswell OB/GYN.
Roswell OB/GYN has extensive pelvic floor rehabilitation Atlanta experience. Call to speak with our caring therapy specialists about pelvic floor therapy today.
