#269 | Healing, Protecting, and Restoring Your Pelvic Floor with Dr. Lizzie Kieffer

Down to Birth

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Dr. Lizzie Kieffer is a doctorate of physical therapy with a specialty practice in women's pelvic floor health. She joins us today to let us in on the little-known secret to protecting, relaxing, strengthening, and restoring your pelvic floor. She teaches us three simple techniques you can initiate immediately after birth to optimize pelvic floor recovery, how, when and why to do kegel exercises, what it means to have diastasis recti, and explains the differences in pelvic floor changes in a vaginal versus cesarean birth. Not only should every woman having a baby hear this episode, but also, every woman should make pelvic floor therapy a regular part of their life, even as they age into menopause and beyond.
Dr. Lizzie on Instagram
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Chapters

1. Tips for preparing the pelvic floor for pregnancy (00:04:25)

2. When should women start thinking of pelvic floor health? (00:04:55)

3. What is the right way to do Kegals? (00:06:25)

4. What is an overactive or a tight pelvic floor? (00:06:38)

5. Why aren't Kegals working for me? (00:06:39)

6. Can a pelvic floor be both tight and weak? (00:07:14)

7. How can a woman know if she has a tight or weak pelvic floor? (00:09:45)

8. Why is sex painful since having a baby? (00:10:29)

9. How can I prepare to push out my baby? (00:15:29)

10. When should women start doing Kegals after birth? (00:16:48)

11. How does a vaginal birth vs surgical birth affect a woman's pelvic floor? (00:18:37)

12. What are three tips for restoring pelvic floor health after giving birth? (00:21:42)

13. What can I do to improve my diastases recti? (00:24:04)

14. How can I work on my cesarean scar? (00:25:44)

15. What is the effect of gravity on my pelvic floor and muscles? (00:30:00)

16. Why does my uterus feel heavy and full postpartum? (00:32:31)

17. How the pelvic floor and our emotions are linked (00:35:04)