Pelvic health service during and after pregnancy

During pregnancy your body undergoes many changes, including increased pressure on your pelvic floor due to the growing baby. Supporting your pelvic floor during this time can help with:

  • Bladder and bowel control
  • Back and pelvic pain relief
  • Labour and birth preparation

Your Pelvic Health Matters

Your pelvic health plays a vital role during pregnancy, birth, and postpartum recovery. Taking care of your pelvic floor can improve your comfort, confidence, and long-term health. Whether you’re preparing for birth or recovering postpartum.

Our Perinatal Pelvic Health Service (PPHS) team provide specialist physiotherapy treatment for pregnant women and birthing people within pregnancy and up to at least 1 year following birth. We specialise in treating issues such as

Common issues and symptoms

Water birth

Please do not feel embarrassed to talk to your midwife or GP about your pelvic health. Research estimated that about:

  • 1 in 3 women experience urinary leakage 3 months after pregnancy.
  • 1 in 5 women have accidental bowel leakage 1 year after pregnancy.
  • 1 in 12 women report symptoms of pelvic organ prolapse (when 1 or more organs in the pelvis slip down from their normal position and bulge into the vagina).

We can offer treatment, advice, and support for all these conditions.

About the team

Our team includes pelvic health physiotherapist and pelvic health midwife. We work closely with maternity services and other health care providers such as:

  • Colorectal specialists
  • Gynaecologists
  • Perinatal Mental Health specialists
  • Urogynaecologists
  • Urology

Education 

Our perinatal pelvic health service also offers classes and workshops. We run 2 pelvic health virtual sessions during pregnancy:

Part 1: Pelvic health Class: Pregnancy

Find out more and book your place.

Further resources

Health information

 

Register to the getUbetter App, do this by:

  • Downloading the app
  • Register
  • Choose Croydon university maternity department
  • Answer the screening questions
  • There will be different modules you can do into e.g. pelvic health in pregnancy
  • Go to "my pelvic trainer"
  • Watch the video
  • Set the long squeeze for 8 - 10 seconds
  • Rest for 3 - 5 seconds
  • Short squeeze 10 times (you can increase this to 15 over time)
  • Set reminders to send notifications to your phone to help you to perform your pelvic floor exercises.
    *Aim to perform them 3 times a day in a laying, sitting and standing position.

It is available in 14 different languages listed below:

  • Arabic
  • Bangla
  • English
  • Farsi
  • Gujarati
  • Polish
  • Portuguese
  • Punjabi
  • Romanian
  • Somali
  • Spanish
  • Ukrainian
  • Urdu
  • Welsh

The getUbetter app is a tool designed to help you manage your conditions and guide your recovery day-by-day. It offers you a symptom checker, management advice as well as video exercises. It also advises you when you may need to seek further help, and connects you to your local health service.

 

Emotional support

  • The Birth Trauma Association  supports parents who have experienced birth trauma.
  • The Healing Experience of Loss and Trauma Service  is a specialist therapeutic service for women and birthing people who live in Croydon, Lambeth, Lewisham or Southwark and who are experiencing emotional distress, or mental health difficulties following a perinatal loss.
  • The MASIC Foundation  offers support to those who have suffered severe injuries during childbirth known as OASI (obstetric anal sphincter injuries).

Contact details

Please speak to your midwife or GP if you are experiencing any of the symptoms listed above.