postpartum recovery specialist

A qualified postpartum recovery specialist is neither an "IQ tax salesman" who relies on words to harvest anxiety, nor a "postpartum miracle doctor" who can restore pre-pregnancy status with one click. In essence, he is a professional service provider who integrates sports rehabilitation, maternal and child care, and basic psychological counseling capabilities to help postpartum women safely spend the 6-month golden recovery period and reduce long-term pelvic floor dysfunction, chronic pain and other health risks.

A while ago, I accompanied my cousin, who had just given birth to her second child, to an institution for a review. When she entered the door, she met a "restorationist" in a white coat. He held a tester on her belly for two seconds and said, "The rectus abdominis is separated by three fingers and the pelvic floor muscles are severely relaxed. If we don't receive treatment now, we will definitely have urinary leakage and uterine prolapse in our forties or fifties. By then it will be too late to treat her." ”I turned around and signed up for a package deal of 38,000 yuan. My cousin was so frightened that she had to scan the QR code on the spot.

I stopped him and asked a familiar old master to come over. He first asked my cousin to stand and raised her hands twice, bent down and touched her toes, then pressed the muscles on both sides of her waist. They asked her if she always held the baby with her right arm and if she had any constipation after giving birth. Finally, she said : "The maximum separation is 2 fingers. This is because you always slump your waist and push your belly when you are holding the baby. The pelvic floor muscles are a bit high. Don't practice contractions blindly. I will teach you three relaxation movements that you can do while lying down. Do them for 15 minutes every day when you go home. Come back for a review when you are one month old. There is no need to spend money on projects. ”

You see, the level of people who are also called "postpartum recovery specialists" is vastly different. This is why everyone's evaluation of this profession is so polarized.

Many friends around me firmly believe that postpartum recovery is purely IQ tax. They say that they did nothing after giving birth. They followed the popular science on the Internet and practiced Kegel for half a year. The rectus abdominis and pelvic floor muscles have recovered, and there is no problem of urinary leakage and back pain. This is really not an exaggeration. According to clinical guidelines, women can recover within one year after giving birth. Severe rectus abdominis separation (within 2 fingers) and physiological pelvic floor muscle relaxation have room for spontaneous recovery. As long as you pay attention not to stand for a long time and squat for a long time, do not slump and use abdominal pressure when carrying the baby, and follow the standard movement exercises, there is a high probability that you can recover on your own without spending a lot of money on treatment.

But there are also many people who have fallen into the trap of "practicing blindly on their own". When I gave birth to my eldest son, I was told that my pelvic floor muscle score was low during the 42-day review. I practiced Kegels for a month following online videos. At first, I just sneezed and leaked urine. Later, I felt like my lower abdomen was shaking even when I walked briskly. After being evaluated by a professional recovery specialist, I found out that I have typical pelvic floor muscle hypertonicity. To put it bluntly, the muscles are always tight and unable to relax. In this case, the more I practice contraction, the more pressure will be placed on the pelvic floor, which will aggravate the problem. I need to relax and release first, and then practice strength to be effective.

Sister Zhang, whom I know, has been in this business for almost 7 years. She has nearly a thousand customer follow-up records stored in her mobile phone. She is not the kind of person who sells her products immediately. Instead, she often pushes customers out. Last time, a little girl who had just finished her confinement came to our door for "pelvic repair". She said that her buttocks were too big to fit into the jeans she used to wear. Sister Zhang measured the width of her pelvis and looked at her pre-pregnancy pants. She said that this is the fat gained during pregnancy. Your pelvis is not everted or tilted forward. Just eat less high-sugar foods when you go home and follow the glute bridge practice. Don't waste money.

There are also situations where we really cannot do without them. Last year, there was a client who had a vertebral section. Her pubic symphysis was separated by 2.8 centimeters. She was so painful that she had to be helped by her husband even when she turned over. She went to the hospital and was told that she could only rest. When she came to her, she cried and said she couldn’t even hold the baby. Sister Zhang taught her how to tie the pelvic belt correctly, how to place her legs when lying on her side to reduce the pressure on the pubic bone, and combined with the manual release, she was able to go downstairs and buy milk tea by herself in less than three weeks.

To be honest, the threshold for this industry is indeed too low now. Many institutions recruit young girls for a week's training, and they can start working if they memorize the words "Distasis rectus abdominis will cause urinary leakage" and "Unrepaired pelvis will cause hip width". They can't even figure out the position of the rectus abdominis and pelvic floor muscles. They will hit you with instruments and press your belly hard, and even those who have not cleared the lochia dare to start. This kind of "restoration specialist" is not called a professional service, but a salesperson who sells anxiety.

This is also the misunderstanding that many people have about postpartum recovery. They think that to do recovery, you have to lose more than ten kilograms and have your hips smaller by two centimeters to be effective. In fact, this is not true. The first thing a qualified recovery specialist takes care of are the "minor problems" that you are embarrassed to call: tenosynovitis that makes you unable to lift your hands while holding a baby, lumbar muscle strain that hurts so much that you can't sleep in the middle of the night, embarrassing leaks when you sneeze or smile, or even high abdominal pressure that causes your belly to bloat when you eat after giving birth. These are the core issues that affect the quality of postpartum life, and are much more important than the inability to fit into size S pants.

After all, this profession itself is not a scam, nor is it that amazing. If you don’t feel any discomfort after giving birth and you can recover by following regular science training, there is no need to spend this money. ； If you have pain, urinary leakage that has not improved after practicing for a long time, or you simply can’t find the feeling of strength in the movements, finding a reliable postpartum recovery practitioner can indeed save you a lot of detours. As for how to choose? Just remember one thing: If you come up and sell treatments without asking about your situation, just turn around and leave.