Condition Guide — Postpartum Care
Recovery Care Built Around Your New Normal
Your body doesn’t just bounce back after delivery — it adapts to a whole new set of physical demands. Postpartum care helps that adaptation happen well instead of just happening.
01 — The Brief Answer
Care Based on What Your Body Needs
Pregnancy and delivery place significant demands on your muscles, joints, core, pelvic floor, and overall movement patterns. After delivery, your body begins another period of change as it heals from pregnancy and birth while simultaneously adapting to feeding, carrying, lifting, and caring for a growing baby.
While some discomfort may improve naturally as your body recovers, pain, weakness, instability, or changes in movement can sometimes persist well beyond the initial postpartum period.
At Family Chiropractic & Physical Therapy, postpartum care is individualized to where you are in your recovery—whether you recently delivered, are returning to exercise, or are finally addressing symptoms that have been present since having your children.
We commonly help postpartum patients experiencing:
- Low back pain
- SI joint and pelvic pain
- Hip and glute pain
- Sciatica
- Pubic symphysis discomfort
- Core weakness
- Diastasis recti
- Pelvic floor weakness or dysfunction
- Neck and upper-back tension from feeding and carrying
- Difficulty returning to exercise
- Pain with lifting, carrying, walking, or everyday activities
- Ongoing pain that began during pregnancy or after delivery
Your pregnancy, type of delivery, previous injuries, activity level, and recovery can all influence how your body feels and functions postpartum.
02 — Evaluation
How we adapt the exam to your recovery
Your postpartum evaluation isn’t based simply on how many weeks or months it has been since delivery. We look at your current symptoms, recovery, function, goals, and what your body needs now.
History
We start by listening.
We’ll discuss your pregnancy and delivery, recovery timeline, current symptoms, previous injuries, activity level, and what activities you are hoping to return to.
We may also discuss whether you had a vaginal or Cesarean delivery, significant pelvic or low-back pain during pregnancy, complications during delivery or recovery, and whether your symptoms began before, during, or after pregnancy.
We also screen for symptoms that may require evaluation by your OB, midwife, primary care provider, or another specialist before beginning treatment.
Examination
Our examination takes a closer look at how your body is moving and where limitations, weakness, or altered mechanics may be contributing to your symptoms.
We assess your range of motion, posture, movement patterns, strength, and areas of muscle tension or restriction.
Joint and motion palpation are used to evaluate how well the spine, pelvis, hips, and SI joints are moving and to identify areas of restriction, tenderness, or altered mechanics.
When appropriate, your postpartum evaluation may also include assessment of core strength and function, pelvic floor function, diastasis recti, hip and glute strength, pelvic stability, and your ability to safely return to exercise and everyday activities.
Orthopedic and neurological testing may also be performed to help determine the likely source of your symptoms.
Your examination helps us determine what your body needs—and whether chiropractic care, physical therapy, acupuncture, massage therapy, or a combination of services is the best fit for you.
Returning to the Activities You Love
Postpartum recovery isn’t only about being pain-free. We want you to be able to comfortably return to the activities that are important to you.
That may mean being able to:
- Carry your baby or toddler without back pain
- Lift a car seat comfortably
- Walk or hike without pelvic pain
- Return to running or working out
- Lift weights again
- Sleep or roll over without SI joint pain
- Get back to work comfortably
- Feel stronger and more confident in your body
Your goals help guide your treatment and rehabilitation plan.
03 — Treatment Options
Care built around your recovery
Chiropractic adjustment
Individualized adjustments to address joint restrictions and improve mobility in the low back, pelvis, SI joints, hips, mid-back, neck, and other areas affected during pregnancy, delivery, and the postpartum period.
Physical therapy & home exercise
Progressive rehabilitation focused on restoring strength, mobility, stability, and movement after pregnancy and delivery and helping you safely return to exercise, work, and everyday activities.
Pelvic Floor & Core Rehabilitation
Assessment and rehabilitation of the core and pelvic floor, including diastasis recti, core weakness, pelvic stability, coordination, and rebuilding strength following pregnancy and delivery.
Postpartum Massage
Individualized massage therapy to address muscle tension and discomfort in the low back, hips, glutes, upper back, neck, shoulders, and other areas that may become overworked while feeding, carrying, and caring for your baby.
Acupuncture
Individualized acupuncture may be incorporated when appropriate to help manage musculoskeletal pain, headaches, muscle tension, and other symptoms during the postpartum period.
Home & self-care
Personalized strengthening, mobility exercises, stretches, positioning recommendations, and activity guidance to help you continue progressing between visits and gradually return to the activities you enjoy.
What If My Baby Isn’t a Baby Anymore?
SI Joint & Pelvic Pain Years After Pregnancy
Postpartum recovery doesn’t always end at six weeks—or even within the first year.
We often see moms 5, 10, or more years after having their children who tell us:
“My back or pelvis has never felt the same since I had my baby.”
Sometimes the pain started during pregnancy and never completely went away. Sometimes it began after delivery. Other times, the symptoms gradually became more noticeable as the years went on.
Pregnancy changes the demands placed on your pelvis, SI joints, abdominal muscles, pelvic floor, hips, and surrounding stabilizing muscles. After delivery, your body has to recover while you are simultaneously lifting, carrying, feeding, bending, and caring for a baby—and eventually a growing child.
For some women, limitations in mobility, strength, stability, or movement patterns can remain long after pregnancy.
What SI Joint Pain Can Feel Like
You may notice:
- Pain on one side of the low back or upper buttock
- Pain around the “dimples” at the base of your spine
- Pain when rolling over in bed
- Pain getting up from sitting
- Discomfort getting in or out of a vehicle
- Pain going up or down stairs
- Pain when standing on one leg
- Difficulty walking, running, or exercising comfortably
- Pain after prolonged sitting or standing
- Recurring episodes of low-back or pelvic pain
- Feeling like one hip or side of your pelvis moves differently than the other
Not every pain in this area is caused by the SI joint. The lumbar spine, hips, muscles, nerves, and other structures can create similar symptoms, which is why we perform an examination before determining your treatment plan.
It’s Not Too Late to Address It
Even if your youngest child is already in school, we can evaluate how your body is functioning today.
We look at joint mobility through the lumbar spine, pelvis, hips, and SI joints as well as core and hip strength, pelvic stability, movement patterns, and other factors that may be contributing to your symptoms.
Depending on what we find, treatment may include chiropractic care to improve restricted joint movement, physical therapy to improve strength and stability, targeted home exercises, soft-tissue treatment, massage therapy, acupuncture, or a combination of services.
We can’t change what happened during pregnancy or delivery years ago—but we can evaluate the problems you’re experiencing now and determine what can still be improved.
Questions We Often Hear
There isn’t one timeline that is appropriate for everyone. Your delivery, healing, symptoms, and medical history all matter. We adapt your examination and treatment to your stage of recovery and coordinate with your OB, midwife, or other healthcare provider when appropriate.
Yes. Care can be adapted based on your healing timeline and comfort. Your evaluation may look at your spine, pelvis, hips, core function, strength, and movement while respecting your surgical recovery and any restrictions from your healthcare provider.
The traditional medical postpartum period represents only one stage of recovery. From a musculoskeletal perspective, your pregnancy and delivery remain an important part of your history even years later. If a problem began during or after pregnancy, we want to know about it regardless of how old your child is now.
Physical therapy and progressive rehabilitation can help assess abdominal wall and core function and determine appropriate exercises based on your individual presentation. Your evaluation helps determine what level of separation and functional changes are present and what rehabilitation is appropriate.
Not every postpartum patient needs pelvic floor rehabilitation. However, symptoms involving pelvic floor weakness or dysfunction, pressure, leaking, core weakness, or difficulty returning to activity may indicate that additional evaluation would be beneficial.
There isn’t always one cause. Previous pregnancy-related pelvic pain, joint mobility, hip and core strength, previous injuries, movement patterns, and other conditions can all contribute. Rather than assuming your pain is simply “from pregnancy,” we examine your low back, pelvis, SI joints, hips, muscles, strength, and movement to determine what appears to be contributing to your symptoms now.
No. We can’t go back and change your initial postpartum recovery, but we can evaluate your current mobility, strength, stability, and movement patterns. Treatment is based on what we find during your examination and what you want to be able to do now.
That’s exactly why we perform an examination before recommending treatment. Pain around the SI joint can also originate from the lumbar spine, hips, muscles, nerves, or other structures. We use your history, examination, orthopedic testing, neurological testing when appropriate, and assessment of joint movement to help determine the likely source of your symptoms.
Research Supporting Postpartum Recovery
Our approach is informed by current research on postpartum low-back and pelvic girdle pain, rehabilitation, exercise, and conservative care.
Ready When You Are
Ready To Feel Better
Our team is here to help you move better, feel better, and live healthier