Yes, absolutely.
Many articles for postpartum women focus on the early weeks and months after birth. That’s great, but what about one year after, or five years later? As Dr. Sarah Duvall, founder of the Postpartum Corrective Exercise Specialist program, notes in this guest post: once you’re postpartum, you’re always postpartum.
PCES is an excellent course, and I’m currently taking it myself. It’s available for only one more week, with a special offer for TG readers below.
Are there special considerations for training a woman who is over a year postpartum?
We should ask whether the postpartum period ends at an arbitrary time. Time can have a positive effect, but not always. In the early postpartum weeks, ligaments remain lax to help with delivery. Most women see a reduction in laxity by 4–6 months, but those who continue to breastfeed may experience laxity for more than a year. This matters because laxity can cause instability and increase injury risk, especially to the pelvic floor. So being further along in recovery can reduce concerns about extra ligament laxity.
Most reports of post-delivery prolapse occur within this one-year window. Prolapse can happen later, but the likelihood tends to decrease with more recovery time. This matters because women should ease back into impact exercises that could strain the pelvic floor while it’s still healing. This also applies to women who delivered by C-section.
Incontinence during exercise is common, and a survey of women who experience leakage showed that those with no leakage at three months postpartum had about a 30% chance of leaking twelve years later. That’s a significant figure. Now imagine a woman who decides to get fit and head to the gym but encounters pelvic floor issues she didn’t have before.
Why does this happen? It can be a breakdown of the system—a cumulative effect of not taking the right steps postpartum to ensure complete pelvic floor recovery. Without proper care, compensations can develop and show up years later, much like other preventable chronic injuries.
The same can happen with the core. If all women who give birth have a diastasis, checking for it should be a routine part of the initial postpartum visit. Pregnancy can push women into poor movement patterns. The front-loaded weight shifts the body backward and lengthens the abdominal muscles. This often leads to tight paraspinals and a hinge at the T12–L1 junction, which can cause back pain and hinder breathing and core recovery. The weight shift, along with the baby pressing on the diaphragm, can limit deep breathing—the foundation for core and pelvic floor healing.
These postural habits can persist unless corrected with proper exercises. Checking for a diastasis and asking key questions about pelvic floor health should be a priority at any stage postpartum. There’s a video with some posture tips that can aid diastasis healing.
Bottom line: once a woman is postpartum, she is always postpartum. Pregnancy increases the risk of pelvic floor issues, diastasis, and postural changes. These risks aren’t confined to the first year or even the first five years postpartum; they can affect many years of a woman’s life. The good news is that with the right knowledge, healing is possible at any stage.
Postpartum Corrective Exercise Specialist (special offer for TG readers)
If you’re a fitness professional, you should consider taking this course. It will make you a better coach and better prepared to work with women postpartum (which, as Sarah notes, never truly ends). I’ve trained many women through pregnancy and postpartum, and this course has helped me immensely by highlighting coaching gaps I hadn’t addressed. Sarah offers it only a few times a year and has extended it for another week for TG readers. If you use the coupon code TONYG at checkout, you’ll get an additional $50 off.
About the author
Sarah is a wife, mom, and adventure-sports athlete. She specializes in women’s fitness and takes functional training to a new level. She believes in teaching and understands that complete healing requires a thorough grasp of how the body works. She blends functional movement with cutting-edge exercises to deliver results-driven programs for postpartum recovery, with a focus on the pelvic floor and abdominals. When she’s not climbing mountains, Sarah writes and teaches at CoreExerciseSolutions.com, helping her clients pursue their goals and live strong, adventurous lives.
References
Viktrup L, Rortveit G. Risk of stress urinary incontinence twelve years after the first pregnancy and delivery. Obstet Gynecol. 2006 Aug;108(2):248-54.
