Pregnancy and childbirth is a physiological process that most women go through. This special physiological process, while bringing women the joy of becoming mothers, also causes a lot of unavoidable damage that leads to after-effects. How to best restore women to their prenatal state after childbirth, reduce the adverse consequences of pregnancy and childbirth on the body, and thus improve the quality of life after childbirth, has become an important issue in modern health care. The postpartum pelvic floor muscle exercise has injected a new content into the postpartum rehabilitation, and has been paid more and more attention by the medical profession. Liu Deshun, Department of Gynecology, Chengdu Women’s and Children’s Center Hospital The inevitability of pelvic floor muscle damage in postpartum women Postpartum women, that is, women who have experienced pregnancy and childbirth, inevitably suffer damage to the muscles of their pelvic floor. The mechanism is easy to understand: in normal position, the normal physiological curvature of human body makes the gravitational axis of abdominal pressure and pelvic organs point to the sacrum; while in pregnancy, the waist protrudes forward, the abdomen bulges forward and protrudes downward, so that the gravitational axis shifts forward, and the gravitational force of abdominal pressure and pelvic organs points to the pelvic floor muscles, plus the increasing weight of the uterus, so that the pelvic floor muscles are under continuous pressure and gradually relax. The normal position gravitational axis The pregnancy position gravitational axis Some women think that cesarean delivery can avoid pelvic floor muscle relaxation, which has led to an extremely high rate of cesarean delivery in recent years. In fact, the pelvic floor muscles have been damaged to varying degrees by the process of October pregnancy, whether by normal delivery or by cesarean section. The abnormal conditions during pregnancy and delivery, such as oversized fetus, excessive amniotic fluid, excessive weight gain of pregnant women, prolonged labor, difficult delivery, vaginal assisted delivery, etc., make the pelvic floor muscles more severely damaged. The pelvic floor muscles of women are like a hammock, supporting the bladder, uterus, rectum and other pelvic organs, which not only maintain the normal anatomical position of these pelvic organs, but also participate in many physiological activities such as controlling urination, controlling defecation, maintaining the tightness of the vagina and increasing sexual pleasure. Damage to the pelvic floor muscles can lead to pelvic floor dysfunction, initially manifested as vaginal laxity, unsatisfactory sexual life or a feeling of abdominal cramping, frequent urination and constipation, which not only brings physical discomfort to women, but may also lead to decreased sexual pleasure for both men and women due to vaginal laxity and inability to contract the pelvic floor muscles during sex, affecting the quality of marital life. If the pelvic floor muscles do not recover in time, they will gradually develop into urinary incontinence, uterine prolapse, bladder prolapse, rectal prolapse and other diseases, causing unspeakable pain to women. Take the most common stress urinary incontinence: mild, coughing, sneezing, laughing or lifting heavy objects when the leakage occurs; moderate, walking quickly will wet pants; severe, incontinence can occur when standing. Some women need to use pads or diapers for a long time, and the odor haunts them all day long, so that the quality of life is seriously affected, and also seriously affects their personal image and social life. Uterine prolapse is even more painful. Patients have a feeling of falling in the pubic area, vaginal swelling and discomfort, with abdominal distension, back pain, and severe prolapse of the uterus often rubs against it when walking, causing ulcers, septicemia or uterine hypertrophy, which is not easy to heal. Although such a disease does not kill, it brings great inconvenience to women’s lives and seriously affects their quality of life. In Europe and the United States, incontinence is likened to “social killer disease”, which shows its harmful nature. The importance of postpartum women’s pelvic floor function rehabilitation The inevitability of pregnancy and childbirth damage to the pelvic floor muscles has led to the commonness and multiplicity of women’s pelvic floor dysfunctional diseases. According to some data, 45% of married and fertile women in China have different degrees of pelvic floor dysfunction. Although nearly half of Chinese married women have different degrees of pelvic floor dysfunctional diseases, but due to the lack of basic understanding of the disease, and even wrongly believe that these problems are normal after the birth of a child, is also a woman must pass a hurdle, so most women are silently endured the pain of this disease. In fact, the alarming figure of 45%, it only means that this phenomenon is common, but not normal. The prevalence rate of nearly half and the danger of the disease to women suggest that the prevention and treatment of this disease cannot be ignored. In developed countries and regions such as Europe, America, Japan and Korea, this problem has been taken seriously in recent years and electrical stimulation therapy and biofeedback training for pelvic floor muscles have been popularized. Women routinely undergo pelvic floor muscle rehabilitation sessions 42 days after delivery to awaken the nerves and muscles of the pelvic floor, so that the vagina can be better restored to its prenatal size and sensitive state, thus improving the quality of sexual life and at the same time contributing to the prevention and treatment of pelvic floor disorders. It also helps to prevent and treat the occurrence of pelvic floor disorders. If women miss the opportunity to recover after childbirth, as they age, their hormone level decreases and their muscles become more relaxed, their symptoms will become more and more serious, and then they will have to choose surgery, which will bring more social health problems. Therefore, the whole society should pay attention to and care for the prevention and treatment of women’s pelvic floor diseases, and women should pay more attention to this problem and actively prevent it by timely pelvic floor muscle rehabilitation training after giving birth, which is of great significance to reduce the incidence of pelvic floor dysfunctional diseases, protect women’s health and improve their quality of life. The scientific nature of pelvic floor muscle rehabilitation training after childbirth Scientific pelvic floor muscle rehabilitation training includes mastering the appropriate timing and correct methods. Postpartum women’s bodies are in a temporary state of tissue weakness, which is the best time for recovery, and scientific rehabilitation methods can quickly restore all aspects of function to prenatal status. The recovery of pelvic floor muscle function is no exception. The pelvic floor muscles are damaged by fatigue caused by prolonged pressure during pregnancy and overstretching during childbirth, and contraction exercises after childbirth can promote the recovery of muscle strength as soon as possible. The methods of pelvic floor muscle rehabilitation include active and passive contractions. The original model of active contraction training is the “Kegel exercise,” first introduced by Dr. Kegel in the 1940s, which involves identifying the correct muscle group and then performing contraction exercises. Tense the muscle for 5 seconds, then relax and do 10 reps in a row. This exercise is easy to do, but often difficult to get right. Patients tend to contract the muscles of the abdomen or inner thighs, which not only fails to achieve the effect of the exercise, but can even be counterproductive. The modern model of active contraction training is “biofeedback,” in which a myoelectric probe is placed in the vagina to convert the electromyographic changes in the pelvic floor muscles, which are not easily detected, into a visual signal that allows the physician and patient to see the muscle contractions on a monitor screen. The trainer can look at the screen and learn how to correctly contract the appropriate muscles based on the feedback signals, and when they are not doing it right, they can see it on the monitor and correct it in time. This high-tech biofeedback technology allows doctors and patients to objectively understand the functional status of the pelvic floor muscles and enables trainers to quickly and correctly master the training techniques, thus greatly improving the therapeutic effect. The most common method of passive contraction training is “low frequency electrical stimulation”, which can stimulate the pelvic floor muscles to make rhythmic contraction and relaxation, so that they can be passively exercised, thus achieving the effect of increasing muscle strength. For women who have very weak pelvic muscles or who are unable to identify the correct muscle groups, this method can help identify the correct pelvic floor muscles. Electrical stimulation and biofeedback can also be performed in conjunction. In conclusion, it is wise for women to rehabilitate their pelvic floor muscles in a timely and correct manner after childbirth under the guidance of a physician to prevent future problems.