Bounce Forward, Not Back: Empowering Postpartum Exercise
Nurturing Your Body After Birth:
During pregnancy, your body undergoes a big transformation. Hormonally, structurally, and physically, these changes are designed to nurture your growing baby and prepare your body for childbirth. However, the postpartum period is just as important. It is a time of healing, restoration, and reconnection with your body.
In this blog post, we’ll explore what happens to the pelvic floor during and after pregnancy, why this matters, and how you can support your recovery with targeted exercises.
What is the Pelvic Floor?
The pelvic floor is a group of muscles and connective tissues that span the bottom of the pelvis, providing support for the bladder, uterus, and rectum.
These muscles are essential for:
Maintaining bladder and bowel control
Stabilising the spine and pelvis
Managing intra-abdominal pressure
Coordinating with the diaphragm and core muscles for breathing and posture
A healthy pelvic floor works in concert with your diaphragm and deep core muscles.
When you inhale, your diaphragm contracts and moves downward, and your pelvic floor relaxes to accommodate this movement and maintain internal pressure balance. Upon exhaling, your pelvic floor contracts with the abdominal muscles, helping to stabilise your core and support your organs.
How Pregnancy Affects the Pelvic Floor
During pregnancy, the abdominal muscles, especially, the rectus abdominis, stretch to accommodate the growing uterus. This often leads to a condition called diastasis recti, a separation of the abdominal muscles. As these muscles weaken, the body compensates by placing more demand on the pelvic floor and lower back muscles.
The pelvic floor also bears increasing weight from the uterus and may stretch significantly during a vaginal delivery. These changes can disrupt the neuromuscular connection between the brain and pelvic floor muscles, making it difficult to engage them effectively after birth.
As a result, postpartum individuals may experience:
Pelvic pain
Lower back pain
Urinary incontinence
Pelvic organ prolapse
Core instability
Recovery is possible and with the right approach, strength and function can be restored.
Postpartum Pelvic Floor Recovery: Foundational Exercises
To begin reactivating and strengthening the pelvic floor postpartum, start with these gentle, evidence-based exercises:
1. Diaphragmatic Breathing (Belly Breathing)
This technique helps reconnect the diaphragm with the pelvic floor and core muscles.
How to do it:
Lie down in a comfortable position.
Inhale slowly through your nose, allowing your belly to rise while keeping your chest still.
Feel the gentle expansion through your ribs and pelvic floor.
Exhale slowly through your mouth, drawing your belly button gently inward.
Repeat for 5–10 breaths, 2–3 times per day.
This breathing retrains your body to coordinate breath and pelvic floor function.
2. Pelvic Tilts
These gentle movements improve core control and pelvic mobility.
How to do it:
Lie on your back with knees bent and feet flat on the floor.
Inhale, then as you exhale, engage your core and tilt your pelvis to press your lower back into the floor.
Hold for a few seconds, then relax and gently arch your lower back, tilting your pelvis downwards.
Repeat 10–15 times.
This movement strengthens the deep abdominal and spinal stabilisers and helps relieve lower back tension.
3. Transverse Abdominis (TvA) Activation
The transverse abdominis is the deepest abdominal muscle, acting like a corset to support your spine and pelvic floor.
How to do it:
Lie on your back with your knees bent.
Place your fingers just inside your hip bones and slightly downward.
Inhale, and then as you exhale, gently contract the deep core muscle as if you’re trying to zip up a tight pair of jeans.
To feel the correct muscle, try coughing then replicate that gentle tensing.
Hold the contraction for a few seconds, then release.
Repeat 10 times, 2–3 times per day.
Activating the TvA helps restore core stability and reduce diastasis recti.
Postpartum recovery is not about “bouncing back”; it’s about building back strength, function, and confidence in your body. Healing from birth is a unique process that deserves patience, attention, and care.
The pelvic floor plays a vital role in your ability to move, lift, and care for yourself and your baby. By retraining these muscles with intentional exercises, you’re not only reducing symptoms like lower back pain or incontinence, you’re also laying the foundation for long-term health and mobility.