August: The month to talk about pelvic health

"During my first pregnancy, I consulted a pelvic health physiotherapist because I wanted to understand how my pelvic floor worked to make delivery easier," says Annie, who is now on her third child. "It’s the center of our body, and no one had ever told me about it!" She learned how to contract, hold, and release this group of muscles that supports organs like the bladder and uterus, and which also plays an important role in continence and sexual health.

Pelvic physiotherapy: essential support during and after pregnancy

For her, it is clear that the care she received before and after delivery was beneficial. "I’m known for having a huge belly—a real Olympic swimming pool," she says with a laugh. "My daughter, my third child, weighed 11 pounds at birth. Thanks to prevention, my clinical follow-ups, and my postpartum exercise program, my pelvic floor regained its original strength, and I recovered faster, even at 40!"

Pregnancy and many other stages of a woman’s life can affect pelvic floor function. Pain, organ prolapse, and urinary or fecal incontinence are often downplayed or ignored, whether women are young or old, and whether they have had children or not.

"That’s what motivated me to want to care for women through pelvic floor physiotherapy," says Marie-Ève Prince, founder of the Cigonia clinic in Sherbrooke and ambassador for the Women’s Health Fund of the CHUS Foundation. "25 years ago, we saw very few patients. It was little known, but gradually, international associations from various specialties began recommending the practice, and for the past 5 years, we’ve seen an increase in consultations." The Sherbrooke-based pelvic health clinic was the first of its kind to open in Quebec in the early 2000s.  

Solutions exist to improve women’s pelvic health

Whether for sexual pain, birth preparation, or post-gynecological cancer treatment, physiotherapy helps improve women’s quality of life and even their future. "We recently saw a young woman who wanted to drop out of her police technology program because she was experiencing urinary leakage. It’s not normal for a young woman to give up on her career choice! It’s important for people to know that solutions exist."

The financial consequences for society are also significant, according to Marie-Ève Prince. "Women endure their symptoms for a long time, which can worsen their condition and overload the healthcare system. In addition to diminishing quality of life, the consequences affect their relationships and mental health, and can even increase cardiovascular risks because many give up physical activity."  

Her youngest is now 9 months old, and Annie has returned to jogging without any worries. "If I had one message to share, it would be: don’t wait until you have a problem, and get to know your body better! If I hadn’t learned how my pelvic floor and abdominal muscles—which are also very important for my recovery—work, I might have had lasting issues. I’m sad that this type of follow-up isn’t mandatory in Quebec."  

Annie is already teaching her oldest daughter about the pelvic floor. "She gets it a bit mixed up, because she calls it the 'prehistoric floor,'" the mom says with a laugh, "but at least she knows what it’s for!"

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