I'm Aoife and this is my story about my positive recovery from pelvic floor damage.

My Pelvic Floor Damage Journey

I'm 4 years post partum now after having severe pelvic floor damage from birth in 4 pregnancies over 4 years. I was wheelchair bound for some of them and on crutches for the rest.

I also have quite extreme hypermobile spectrum disorder and suspected Hypermobile Ehlers Danlos Syndrome. I didn't get treatment for my pelvic laxity until my final pregnancy and didn't recover immediately after my previous pregnancies.

Dancing Again!

Last Saturday I took part in a dance show in a local festival in Cork. I danced a high impact carnival fitness class, which involved 7 back to back songs. I'd even done a 1hr rehearsal that morning. My pelvis held up and I really enjoyed it.

Hope for Others

I know lots of people hear horror stories about being told they are Hypermobile during pregnancy or feel like they might not ever recover from their pelvic floor damage from labour. I'm here to share it is possible.

Yes, Hypermobile people can take longer to treat and I had to work hard to get from being unable to walk to being able to jump around and dance pain free. It didn't happen overnight but it happened.

Manual therapy through the NHS meant that I remained active in my final pregnancy and I did recover from the pelvic laxity within weeks of giving birth. However, I did have to rebuild 10 months of lost muscle and mobility but succeeded.