Pelvic Floor Health and Childhood Activities

What did you do as a kid?

What sports did you play?

Did you sing?

Did you play an instrument?

You may be asking, what does that have to do with my pelvic floor health?​​

I picked up this habit doing telehealth when I couldn’t put my hands on someone. 

If you did something like ballet, gymnastics, or cheerleading, that tells me a lot about your flexibility and what your stability strategies might be.

If you rowed, you may have movement biases depending on what side of the boat you were on. 

If you swam, you may have certain shoulder or spine mobility. 

I’ll also ask about wind instruments and singing, because that plays into breath strategies. 

I try to find whatever cue resonates with the person in front of me to get the activation strategy I’m looking for. 

We have to remember that women had an entire existence BEFORE they were moms, and how movement patterns were introduced are still relevant to their bodies now.

In understanding our clients holistically, we need to remember it doesn’t start the second they had a baby. No one walks into pregnancy with a clean slate. 

Start to ask questions. Start to look for patterns.

There are so many things we learn about movement when aesthetics are involved, like with dance or gymnastics. When you have to look a certain way while you move, I tend to see an overactive pelvic floor.

When you get older, even though you’re not doing those sports anymore, the habits are still there to a degree. 

I would love to know, postpartum pros, do you already ask these types of questions?

Moms, what sports did you play?