What happened down there
For nine months, your pelvic floor carried the weight of the baby, the placenta and the amniotic fluid, while hormones softened the tissues to prepare the way. The delivery itself, especially if it was long, if baby was big, or if there was tearing, an episiotomy or instruments, stretches those muscles far beyond their usual range.
The pelvic floor comes out weakened and supports the bladder less well. Hence the leaks when laughing or sneezing, the pressing urges, the feeling of heaviness, sometimes less control over gas. It is muscle mechanics, not a personal failing. And mechanics can be retrained.
"But my youngest is seven…"
There is no expiry date here. Many women seek help years, even decades, after their pregnancies, often when menopause adds its own layer. A pelvic floor weakened by childbirth is still a muscle: it responds to training at 30 just as it does at 60. The right time to deal with it is whenever you have had enough.
Where to start
- The postnatal checkup first. Before any program, get the green light from your health professional, especially in the first months.
- Pelvic floor physiotherapy. In Quebec, it is the gold standard for assessing your pelvic floor and relearning how to contract it correctly.
- Kegel exercises at home, with proper technique (our guide covers the mistakes to avoid).
- Assisted strengthening (Emsella), when consistency or muscle recruitment is the hard part (see below).
Let's say it plainly
Emsella complements pelvic floor physiotherapy — it does not replace it. The physiotherapist assesses, corrects, treats; the chair, for its part, trains. If your pelvic floor has never been assessed since childbirth, that is where we suggest you start, even if it does not go through the partner pharmacy.
Emsella, busy-mom edition
The idea behind the Emsella chair fits in one sentence: the equivalent of about 11,200 pelvic floor contractions in 28 minutes, seated, fully clothed, while you answer your messages or close your eyes. It may be the only half hour of the week when nobody calls you "mommy". No downtime: you head back to daycare pickup right after.
Source for the "11,200" figure: BTL, manufacturer data.
When to start after childbirth? That depends on your recovery and the medical green light. It is exactly what the partner pharmacy team confirms with you at the free consultation, along with the usual contraindications.
