Congrats! You've Been Cleared to Return to Exercise in the 4th Trimester

It’s been 6 weeks. Your check-up goes ‘well’ and you’ve been cleared to return to exercise. So you lace up your running shoes, head out the door (possibly pushing a stroller?) and go for your first run. 

For some, all may go well. For others (many, many others!), there may be symptoms. The focus of this blog is to discuss a few possible symptoms. What is normal and what isn’t? 

Peeing in your pants

Urinary Urgency

Pooping in your pants

Heaviness or pressure low in the pelvis

Difficulty keeping a tampon in

Pain

So...if I have symptoms, what should I do? There are many options! 

• Ignore them and hope they go away (not recommended)

• Pretend Kegels can fix everything (also not recommended)

• Give yourself ample time to heal and SLOWLY return to exercise (good advice)

• See your Pelvic PT who will support your body specific to its unique needs (best advice)

As a pelvic PT, the advice is simple. New recommendations indicate that no person who has given birth should return to running prior to 3 months postpartum! Once you are cleared for exercise (at 6 weeks-ish), it may not be time to lace up those running shoes just yet. There is a graded and therapeutic approach to returning to impact activity.

As you can see, it is not as simple as just doing your kegels (you’ve heard this by now I am hoping??). The postpartum body is complex with lots of cogs interacting within the machine. A pelvic PT is the expert in helping you discover exactly which cogs need some love and support in order to optimize function and quality of life.  

All women’s bodies are unique. If you would like to know more about how the above relates to your specific condition, email me here. Please also follow us on Instagram or join our private Facebook Group for a ton of free support on common women’s health concerns.

NEXT BLOG: Why I don’t (usually) Recommend Squatting During Birth