Issue link: https://www.massageandbodyworkdigital.com/i/1315831
L i s te n to T h e A B M P Po d c a s t a t a b m p.co m /p o d c a s t s o r w h e reve r yo u a cce s s yo u r favo r i te p o d c a s t s 53 and Kegels. It is rather when we reach into the back seat and take the weight of a bag of groceries or a sleeping child that we need the valves to automatically close. This works better if the whole balloon works as a unit. So, although I will sometimes refer out to trainers who are better at functional movement than I am, I often get new mothers started by reacting first to a balloon I am batting their way to get them coordinated to respond in a way that keeps the respiratory and pelvic diaphragms in connection with each other. Once the recruitment looks more "together"—back toward pre-mother form—we graduate to a bounced ball, then a tossed ball, and finally to a heavier ball. Most women who can catch and contain a 5-pound medicine ball thrown in random ways will be able to negotiate the activities of daily life with urine retained and sexual pleasure enhanced. The belly wall can also be overstretched in late pregnancy as well, leading to diastasis recti, a common problem confronting massage therapists. Again, manipulation for serious separations between the rectus muscles requires specialty training, and specialized exercise programs—a much better route for most of these problems than stretching or massage alone—are available for mothers and trainers to follow. 6 C-Sections By far the most radical medical development related to birth is the successful cesarean section. Only with the advent of modern sterile surgical practice and the development of anesthesia did any mother survive the abdominal extraction of a baby. In one brief century, this impossible feat has become the way into the world for increasing numbers of families. In the US and China, one-third of all births are C-section. In Brazil, more than half the births are by this method that was unknown to the world mere decades ago. The long-term implications of this trend have yet to be measured, but given that the rate of C-sections has doubled since just 2000, we may find out soon. 7 Procedures vary depending on whether it was an emergency or elective C-section. Whichever, surgeons take what care they can in entering and leaving. Nevertheless, scars are formed and lubrication between myofascial layers is lost wherever there has been a cut or stitch—both inevitable. To tackle a C-section scar, first thing to know is you will be right on top of the pubic bone, so (1) this is not the place to go on your first session, but only after good rapport is established; and (2) make sure their bladder is empty first. With the client lying supine with her knees up (better with feet on the table rather than just a bolster under the knees), locate the scar and go into the belly a bit above it. My clients are wearing underwear, so usually I have a layer of fabric between me and the skin, but that is between you and the client. Explore the scar from above, checking its length and breadth and density. Vikings will on average have tougher and larger scars than Temple Dancers, but this varies with the birth. 5. Each layer of a C-section scar can have different characteristics, so use your sensitive skills. Look for the small but impor tant fascial "wire" at tached to some nearby bone—in this case, the pubic tubercle. Illustration by Emily Morgan.