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Helping the body prepare for conception and pregnancy by balancing the tissues of the body - the pelvis especially.
Low back and pelvic pain, sciatica, rib pain, skills for an active birth, optimising space and positioning of baby for labour.
Rebalancing the postpartum body - easing back, neck , pelvic pain. Assessing pelvic floor dysfunction, helping with continence issues, prolapse. Assessing the body for return to exercise. Helping mums who experienced a tough time during or after giving birth.
Hands on therapy and exercise guidance to help women navigate their monthly cycles, and assist in the management of pelvic pain, PMS, and endometriosis.
What is Internal Pelvic Floor therapy?
Rebalance Osteopathy's, Haylee Finn is one of very few osteopaths in Australia qualified to perform internal assessment and treatment of the pelvic floor.
An initial Internal Pelvic Floor consultation includes a detailed case history, discussion of treatment aims, basic introduction to female pelvic anatomy, and an internal pelvic floor assessment and also manual treatment of the pelvis internally. The pelvic muscles are assessed intravaginally. This is done with a gloved, lubricated finger inserted in the vagina. Pelvic floor muscle tone, tension, trigger points, and pain patterns are noted along with their engagement during a pelvic floor contraction. This form of internal assessment is the most accurate method to detect if you are contracting your pelvic floor optimally. However the assessment doesn't end with just a pelvic floor contraction assessment. Haylee also assesses the internal position of your bladder, urethra, cervix and uterus. She is able to help you identify any scar tissue from perineal tears/episiotomies/vaccuum/forceps intervention and also explore the impact any abdominal or pelvic scars (like caesarean scars) may be having on your internal pelvic space.
The assessment is followed by a treatment to release any trigger points in the muscle and fascia (connective tissue) of the pelvic floor. This is achieved via gentle pressure in the region of tenderness and waiting for the brain to register then reduce the nervous system output. A sense of melting within the tissues and a reduction in palpable tension are indicative the process has occurred. Gentle visceral therapy can also help realign bladder, urethra, cervix and uterus position within the pelvis.
Holistic Pelvic Care ™ (HPC™) is a type of Internal Pelvic Floor therapy. Developed from 25 years of work, research and hands-on practice by Tami Lynn Kent, a US based women’s health physiotherapist, any woman may gain benefit from HPC™ treatment but it is particularly beneficial for those healing after pregnancy and for those preparing for pregnancy. Though gentle, the physical and emotional effects of HPC™ are profound and women often notice a change with even one session. Improved blood flow to and from the pelvis helps to reduce pelvic pain, and/or a feeling of heaviness in the pelvic floor.
How soon after birth can I receive Internal Pelvic Floor therapy?
Any time once bleeding has ceased. Generally after six weeks post-partum is a good time to begin but it can still be extremely useful months, or even years, after birth.
Do I need Internal pelvic floor therapy with Haylee if I've already seen a pelvic floor physiotherapist?
Great question. There are different courses that professionals can take to perform internal vaginal assessment and treatment. The best question to ask is why are you seeking out internal pelvic floor therapy - and ask your individual professional what they can offer you to receive the in-person healing you need.
If internal vaginal assessment and treatment sounds scary..
Please don't shy away. We can also assess how your pelvic floor is functioning via external palpation. So please contact us if you have any questions or queries.
If you’re finding it difficult to contract your pelvic floor or if you’re not sure if you are contracting your pelvic floor correctly then Internal Pelvic Floor therapy provides a platform to facilitate a new brain-pelvic floor connection. To contract a muscle group you need to first connect with that muscle group.
If you are wanting to become pregnant, Internal Pelvic Floor therapy is a really useful tool for finding out the baseline tone in your pelvic floor. Where and how we carry tension in our pelvic floor can have implications for how well our body can expand to grow a baby and how our body can expand to birth a baby.
Whether you had a straightforward vaginal delivery, or you experienced perineal tearing, an episiotomy, intervention with forceps or vacuum, had a long labour, or even a quick birth, the tissues of the pelvic floor are often simply rehabilitated via pelvic floor contractions alone. Enter Internal Pelvic Floor therapy and especially Holistic Pelvic Care™ - you'll realise that with pelvic floor tissue trigger point release, your ability to achieve a high quality efficient pelvic floor contraction is indeed possible as an adjunct to performing pelvic floor exercises.
Holistic Pelvic Care™ uses great empathy and respect to gently help women's bodies recover from trauma.
If you’re finding it difficult to contract your pelvic floor or If you’re not sure if you are contracting your pelvic floor correctly then we are here to help. To contract a muscle group you need to first connect with that muscle group. Secondly, this muscle group needs to be working from an optimal resting state- that is, not overly lengthened and not overly shortened. A short, tight pelvic floor can occur as a result of contracting your pelvic floor too much (consciously or subconsciously), excessive high intensity exercise, from poor technique during Pilates, from lifting heavy weights, emotional stress, or trauma, including birth trauma. A lengthened pelvic floor can occur as a result of pregnancy or due to general hypermobility of tissues (excess flexibility). Mindful and gentle treatment of trigger points and scar tissue within these tissues can improve your ability to contract your pelvic floor and decrease symptoms:
Our approach to assessing and treating the pelvic floor can be external by palpating for tone and contraction near your sit bones in a lying position. The most accurate way to measure pelvic floor contraction and tone is via internal palpation and Osteopath Haylee Finn is qualified to perform this.
If you are wanting to become pregnant, then Osteopathy is a great form of bodywork to help prepare the body to conceive, grow and birth a baby. Where and how we carry tension in our pelvis and pelvic floor can have implications for how well our body can expand to grow a baby and how our body can expand to birth a baby. If we can resolve any asymmetry and tension in your pelvis prior to falling pregnant then this can help the body better adapt to the increasing load of the baby, preventing low back and pelvic pain during pregnancy. A pliable and supple pelvic floor creates optimal space for the baby to assume throughout the pregnancy, paving the way to facilitate a natural vaginal delivery.
Holistic Pelvic Care™ (HPC™) is a really useful tool for finding out the baseline tone in your pelvic floor prior to falling pregnant. Most women think they need to have a strong pelvic floor to conceive and grow a baby during pregnancy, but the reality is that many women have an excessively tight pelvic floor which in fact needs releasing so that it can expand and hold a pregnancy and expand further to give birth. Excessive tension in the pelvic floor can impede blood flow to the pelvis and create congestion and stagnation - treatment to release tension and bring improved blood flow in the pelvis creates an optimal environment for conception.
If you are planning for a VBAC (vaginal birth after caesarean) then Internal Pelvic floor therapy prior to falling pregnant again, can be useful in resolving pelvic floor tension and congestion which may have been present both before and since your C-section delivery.
We respect that a woman who has experienced miscarriage, birth loss or termination is indeed still in a postpartum state. Osteopathy, Closing of the Bones and other Ayurvedic practices, and Holistic Pelvic Care™ are examples of grounding somatic practices that can be helpful for mothers going through these difficult processes.
Haylee is passionate about changing the status of postpartum nurturing and care - a hugely neglected aspect of health in today’s Western world. She encourages mothers to place the same emphasis on postnatal care as they do on prenatal care when it comes to caring for their bodies. Women need support and loving touch when birth goes well, and women need support and loving touch when birth has been tough. The standard definition of a postpartum woman is a woman who has given birth less than six months ago. At Rebalance Osteopathy, our definition of a postpartum woman expands beyond six months, for the majority of women who have birthed, their bodies remain in a postpartum state for the remainder of their lifetime. We also expand this definition of a postpartum woman to a woman who has experienced a misscarriage, a stillbirth, or undergone a termination of pregnancy. We use a gentle approach to help rebalance women, wherever they sit on their postnatal timeline.
Internal Pelvic Floor therapy for the postpartum woman
If you are recovering from a recent pregnancy or even a pregnancy long ago, Internal Pelvic Floor Therapy and Holistic Pelvic Care™ (HPC™) can be extremely valuable in resolving any tension in the pelvic floor from pregnancy and birth. Whether you had a vaginal delivery, tearing, episiotomy, forceps or vacuum, a long birth or a long pushing stage, a quick birth, the tissues of the pelvic floor are often simply rehabilitated via pelvic floor contractions alone - this approach is failing to address the length-tension relationship of the tissues which can potentially lead to low back, pelvic pain, urinary symptoms, and menstruation issues. If you have had a C-section or multiple C-sections, Internal Pelvic Floor therapy can be useful to help restore optimal function between the abdominal wall and the pelvic floor which is disturbed as a result of an incision through the abdomen. Regardless of how you deliver, pregnancy still places load on the pelvic floor, and labouring prior to delivering via C-section places additional load on the pelvic floor.
Birth trauma
In her book ‘Mothering from your center’, founder of Holistic Pelvic Care™ Tami Lynn Kent includes a number of meditation exercises to help mothers rewire their traumatic experience of birth. These energetic tools can be used in combination with or instead of HPC™ to help women who are experiencing anxiety or post-traumatic stress or a sense of disconnect with themselves or their baby.
Osteopaths Haylee Finn, Sophie Beks, Kelly Thompson , April Thewlis and Nadine McNamara all share an interest in Preganancy Care.
Even before becoming a mother herself, Haylee was drawn to helping women throughout their pregnancy journeys (check out her extensive extra training in pregancy care here). Haylee loved that women in this phase of their life were feeling empowered to learn about and care for their changing bodies. Pregnancy really is such a mind-blowing process and Haylee loves coming along for the nine month ride with her pregnant patients. Haylee's study and experience enables her to use touch and guided movement to help mothers to grow a baby, to deliver a baby and to rebalance fully in the postpartum period. She loves that pregnancy offers a window to treat old strains that the hormone relaxin (which often cops a bad rap) has opened the door and exposed - think dodgy old untreated ankle injuries or a sore wrist. And she takes a caring and curious view to to the various aches and pains that expectant mums present with (they're often clues that the body indeed needs some rebalancing but in a truly osteopathic way, often the problem area is not always at the site of pain!)
From a movement perspective, Haylee calls upon her Pilates training, and her training as an Optimal Maternal Positioning Ambassador to implement an approach to facilitating natural birth that uses physiology before force and utilises concepts of balance, gravity and movement to achieve:
Osteopath Sophie Beks loves being a part of a mother's journey throughout pregnancy and the postnatal period. She gets great reward from helping a mother’s body adapt to the changes of their growing baby, and to make this special time in their lives as enjoyable as it should be. The postnatal period is equally as important, with Sophie’s treatment aiming to aid recovery from childbirth and create comfort and ease while navigating the new roles of motherhood, ensuring our mums stay happy and healthy. Sophie has completed further training with Osteopath Elizabeth Howard from the Women's Health Research Institute of Australia, in "Managing Pain in Pregnancy & Beyond", Spinning Babies and Birthwork with Fiona Hallinan and Jenny Blyth.
April Thewlis was a pregnancy and postpartum masseur prior to becoming an Osteopath. She's also trained in Spinning Babies.
Nadine McNamara has completed Birthwork with Fiona Hallinan and Jenny Blyth.
Osteopath Kelly Thompson has completed a Spinning Babies Workshop and PreNatal / Post Natal Treatment Protocols And Techniques with Dr. Maureen Maher.
Osteopath Mollie Keast has also completed further training with Osteopath Elizabeth Howard from the Women's Health Research Institute of Australia, in "Managing Pain in Pregnancy & Beyond".
Freedom of blood flow, lymphatic drainage and nerve supply is an important premise of osteopathy. When combined with mainstream medicine, acupuncture, physiotherapy, exercise and nutrition, osteopathy can be beneficial in the management of:
In addition, Holistic Pelvic Care™ can be a vital tool in the management of these complaints. It works by reducing excessive tone in the pelvic floor soft tissues thus opening the pathways for blood flow, lymphatic drainage and unimpeded nerve supply to and from pelvic organs.
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