6 Essential Moves for Postpartum Health

Dawn-Marie Ickes, MPT, is a partner in the Los Angeles studio Core Conditioning, which offers Pilates, Gyrotonic and physical therapy at Burbank and Studio City locations. Ickes has lectured nationally on Pilates and is on the Board of Directors of the Pilates Method Alliance. She is often noted for her work with pregnant women and new mothers. Here, Ickes shares her approach to training women who have recently given birth.

By Dawn-Marie Ickes

Many women will spend hours each week exercising their legs and abdominal muscles in an effort to “get their pre-pregnancy body back.” The most crucial component of ANY sort of exercise in this immediate postpartum period is restoring the normal function of the pelvic floor muscles and integrating the core muscles. Women are very adept at identifying the changes in sensation and strength in their abdominal muscles following birth, yet few are able to tell or even consider how their pelvic floor and other core muscles have been affected by 9 months of pregnancy and a delivery.