Most providers are happy to write a referral for Pelvic PT during pregnancy if you ask for one, and some states don’t even require a referral at all.

If an in-person visit isn’t available to you, a great option for learning about prevention and treatment during pregnancy is to take our live 2- hour online class with a pelvic floor physical therapy specialist. You will learn to be confident and strong in your pregnant body and understand how to decrease injury, improve birth outcomes and speed up recovery postpartum as well.

Improve confidence

PT during pregnancy can help women feel more in control and confident about how to take care of their bodies, prepare for delivery, stay strong, and recover faster. Knowledge is power and you definitely will learn and discover a lot about your body during pelvic PT sessions.
After Pelvic PT treatment you will feel confident in: birth positioning options, safe exercises and important stretches, sleeping positions, bladder and bowel habits, perineal massage, relaxing and contracting pelvic muscles with accuracy and proper breathing mechanics.

REduce Tearing during Delivery

Some amount of vaginal tearing during delivery is common, however, pelvic PT during pregnancy can help reduce the severity of tears during delivery. This is largely due to Pelvic PT’s ability to help you gain strength and flexibility of your pelvic muscles. Biofeedback and perineal massage are the most common forms of therapy that can help women to feel more embodied and in control during delivery as well as reduce the severity of tearing.

Reduce Injury

Pelvic Floor PT during pregnancy can improve your comfort during pregnancy and reduce the risk of common pregnancy-related injuries such as pubic symphysis pain, sacro-illiac joint pain, back pain, hip pain, constipation, and trouble finding comfortable sleeping positions.

Decrease leakage

Pelvic PT during pregnancy can reduce chances of urinary leakage in late pregnancy and postpartum.

improve birth outcomes

Pelvic PT during pregnancy can improve birth outcomes such as decreased chance of postpartum depression and decreased length of hospital stay.
Studies have shown that regularly exercising during pregnancy makes appropriate birth weight of the infant and appropriate weight gain of the mother more likely.
Appropriate birth weight reduces risk factors for the child later in life including: cardiovascular disease, obesity and diabetes.

recover faster

Pelvic PT during pregnancy can make your postpartum recovery faster and better. Studies affirm that staying active during pregnancy helps women get their bodies back quicker after delivery. PT can help you to find safe and pain-free ways to stay active despite the changes your body will go through.

Sources:

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Impact of physical activity during pregnancy and postpartum on chronic disease risk. Med Sci Sports Exerc. 2006;38(5):989–1006. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]

ACOG Committee Opinion No. 650: physical activity and exercise during pregnancy and the postpartum period. Obstet Gynecol. 2015;126(6):e135–e142. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]

Romeikienė KE, Bartkevičienė D. Pelvic-Floor Dysfunction Prevention in Prepartum and Postpartum Periods. Medicina (Kaunas). 2021;57(4):387. Published 2021 Apr 16. doi:10.3390/medicina57040387

Woodley SJ, Lawrenson P, Boyle R, et al. Pelvic floor muscle training for preventing and treating urinary and faecal incontinence in antenatal and postnatal women. Cochrane Database Syst Rev. 2020;5(5):CD007471. Published 2020 May 6. doi:10.1002/14651858.CD007471.pub4

Why Moms Need Pelvic Physical Therapy BEFORE Delivery