Welcoming a new baby is a joyous occasion, but postpartum recovery often comes with unexpected challenges. One common issue new mothers face is tense muscles, a physical reminder of the incredible effort their bodies have endured. While the focus is often on the baby, it’s crucial to pay attention to your own recovery. Stress and anxiety can exacerbate muscle tension, complicating the healing process. Understanding this connection can help you address discomfort effectively. Let’s explore what you can do to alleviate tense muscles during this transformative time.
Tense muscles during your postpartum recovery.
Perhaps you have been looking forward to having a baby for months, or years. Before and during pregnancy you can find a lot about this on the Internet, with midwives, and in books. You look up as much as possible to your future child, but what is often not thought about is the recovery afterward. There are many different complaints about postpartum that many women do not know about during pregnancy. One of them is having tense muscles.
Your body has carried a baby for 9 months and then endured a C-section or a (heavy) labor. This has had a great impact on your entire body, including your organs and muscles. You and your body have performed at peak performance. So the fact that you suffer from tense muscles a few days after giving birth is quite logical. Yet having tense muscles is a common complaint that is also present in the weeks/months after giving birth. Many women just don’t link this complaint to postpartum recovery.
Stress
But … tense muscles can also have another meaning. Everything is new and your whole life has changed since your little one arrived. For example, your sleeping rhythm has changed (or gone ;)), you are more anxious, you have less time for yourself and perhaps you are uncertain about parenthood. This creates stress, which manifests itself in having tense muscles.
Anxiety
Besides the fact that tense muscles can be a physical complaint, this can also be linked to anxiety, with anxiety your muscles unconsciously tighten, which can cause this.
“Despite how much you read up on childbirth and the maternity week, you never hear everything. I had that experience, too. My daughter was born with shoulder dystocia and had a high birth weight. All in all, it was an intense labor. The next day my whole body was sore. I could explain that in itself, because of course I had worked hard during labor. But nobody had told me that it would be so intense! After giving birth, I suffered for quite a long time from muscle tension and muscle pain. Especially in my (upper) legs, these soured very quickly while walking, cycling, or standing…”
Do you notice that you suffer (a lot) from tense muscles after childbirth? Do our self-test in the Back To You app/book and find out what you can do about it and/or you may need further medical help.
