Pelvic Floor Damage After Birth

Research indicates that stress urinary incontinence pelvic organ prolapse or both occur in about half of all women who have given birth.

Pelvic floor damage after birth.

Prolapse occurs when the pelvic organs are not being properly supported and therefore push down or descend into the vagina causing a heavy dragging sensation. Pelvic bone problems are painful. It is also fairly common to experience pelvic prolapse following a particularly traumatic birth or after several pregnancies where the pelvic floor is severely weakened. Distortion of the vagina or perineum area between the vagina and anus heaviness or dragging sensation in the vagina.

The muscles in your pelvic floor become stretched during pregnancy and birth. Other symptoms include increased daytime frequency 8 or more times or increased night time frequency more than once. Continuous fetal monitoring cfm which forces women to remain lying down or semi reclining. Pregnancy is a common cause of pelvic floor dysfunction.

As such many women will experience problems after childbirth due to weak pelvic floor muscles. Leaking urine urinary incontinence especially when coughing laughing sneezing or exercising stress urinary incontinence is the most well recognized urinary symptom of maternal pelvic floor damage. During a vaginal birth the baby needs to pass through the levator hiatus in the pelvic floor and the muscles connective tissues and nerves can be damaged in the process. Is pelvic floor dysfunction hereditary.

These issues are closely associated with birth related. When your pelvic floor is weakened or damaged you may leak wee stress incontinence wind and more rarely poo faecal incontinence. Your pelvic floor muscles and tissues can become strained during pregnancy especially if your labor was long or difficult. The tailbone coccyx the triangular bone at the bottom of the spine sacrum sometimes giving birth can damage the bones in the ways described below.

Use of forceps requires an episiotomy and is likely to result in damage to the pelvic floor. The weight of your baby hormones that loosen your tissues and the efforts of labour all put pressure on this part of your body. Epidural analgesia which increases the likelihood of having an episiotomy and an assisted birth with vacuum extraction or forceps. Pelvic floor dysfunction is the inability to control the muscles of your pelvic floor.