Mummy MOT® Consultation and Pelvic Health Assessment - for Pregnant or Postnatal

This consultation is to discuss your health requirements or any concerns or issues you have during pregnancy and/or since having your baby.

This appointment offers a physical examination of tummy muscles and an external and internal pelvic assessment (not during pregnancy).

There will be an active assessment as part of the consultation so please wear comfortable clothing. You will receive an assessment report via email following your consultation.

The Mummy MOT® provides A detailed history of your childbearing experiences including pregnancy, birth and recovery. You will be advised how to maintain and/or recover your core and pelvic floor safely and effectively to improve long term health. We will also look at a range of remedial exercises and lifestyle factors aimed at speeding up recovery, preventing injury recurrence as well as improving posture, strength and abilities.

You may be experiencing any of the following:

• Persistent back or pelvic pain
• A weakened pelvic floor
• A gap in your tummy muscles
• A weakened pelvic floor
• Heaviness in your vagina/pelvic floor
• Pain or reduced mobility in any area of your body
• Difficulty knowing which exercise are safe to do with your current condition
• You have begun exercise but are finding that you are not getting the results you want

Mums will have all undergone varying degrees of body changes during their childbearing. Genetics, diet, health before and during pregnancy, age, space between babies, type of pregnancy, labour and birth are all factors that influence the recovery of a mother. Most mums don’t realise how specialist they are after giving birth.

Recovery after birthing a baby is in-depth, prescriptive and steady. Mums need an experienced professional, that they can trust, to give them the right holistic advice and programme, to safely restore their body.

Prescribing effective core training is an important part of program design. Most women report feeling unhappy with their tummy and are desperate to “get their abs back,”. But rather than go back to conventional ways of exercising – which can actually inhibit and even retard their recovery, the real focus is to regain their core strength, getting rid of low back pain, and developing a pelvic floor that doesn’t leak. Traditional ab exercises stop the promotion of healing for diastasis and are likely to cause more harm than good for postnatal women. The best core training exercises are ones that you may not realise are training your core. Full body exercises need a good core to carry out effectively, with stability.

As far as your abdominal separation is concerned, you don’t have to have a specific finger gap to be healed. A strong and stable core needs connective tissue that can generate tension along the midline of your abdominals. A fully closed gap is not necessary. However, if you’re measuring a 5-6 finger width gap at any point along the connective tissue, you won’t be very stable through the core.

Up to half of all women experience weakness in both the abdominal muscles and pelvic floor muscles after pregnancy and up to a third still have a tummy gap at eight weeks post-birth. This can cause instability or poor core strength leading to women developing pelvic or back pain or bladder, bowel and sexual dysfunction. These conditions should not be something you should just put up with as a result of having a baby.

It’s recommended that women have an initial assessment after their 6-8 week GP check, but we also treat women who gave birth years ago that may still have a tummy gap or related pelvic floor issues.

Specialist Therapist
I am fully trained and licensed to carry out a Mummy MOT®. Mums need to bend, squat and lift so we provide clinical postnatal care and functional exercises for female clients following birth (no matter how long ago).

75 Minute Assessment
Including:

• Full postural screen.
• Pelvic floor muscle assessment.
• Abdominal muscle exam to check for any separation.
• Screening for bladder, bowel or sexual dysfunction.

Follow Up

• Education and advice on safe activities such as lifting your baby or pushing a buggy.
• Bespoke rehabilitation programme with your goals and lifestyle factors in mind.
• Emailed summary of the findings of your assessment.

Before you undertake an assessment with a Mummy MOT practitioner, you will have been sent a clinical questionnaire to complete so that Nina has a clearer understanding of the nature of your issue(s).

Nina also offers myofascial release which is manual pelvic floor therapy that may be a helpful and complimentary treatment.