Simone Muller

Incontinence after pregnancy

It can range from the occasional leak when you laugh, cough, sneeze or exercise, to the complete inability to control your bladder. As urinary incontinence has become socially normalised, in many cases, women do not seek appropriate treatment. However, specific exercises can both reduce and stop urinary incontinence.

How common is urinary incontinence?

Urinary incontinence affects around 1 third of women within the first year of having a baby.


What causes incontinence?

The most common cause of pregnancy-related urinary incontinence or urgency is weak pelvic floor muscles.

Pelvic floor muscles support the uterus and help control the bladder and bowel. The weight of your baby can weaken these muscles.

Incontinence after childbirth, can be due to the weakening of pelvic floor muscles that can happen during vaginal births. The pressure inside your bladder becomes greater than the strength of your urethra to stay closed and any sudden extra pressure sees wee leak out. If your pelvic floor muscles are weak or damaged your urethra might not be able to stay closed . Alternatively, the muscle that keeps the urethra closed might be damaged.

How can Hyporessives help reverse incontinence?

In recent years, hypopressive exercise has started to be applied to the treatment of pelvic floor dysfunctions such as incontinence. Hypopressives help improve the resting tone of the pelvic floor, as well as the competence of the core canister, to absorb an increase in intra abdominal pressure at sudden times of increased pressure - sneezing, coughing, running or laughing.

Getting started

For the Hypopressives classes it is important that you learn the Apnea technique properly so that you can get the most out of the classes and the time you invest in yourself. Each week Simone runs Fundamentals sessions on Zoom where she explains the technique and guides you through all the steps. She will also give you feedback to make sure that you're doing it correctly. For some, the technique may come more quickly than others. Some of her clients, who are tighter in the ribs and thoracic spine do tend to take a little longer.

And here's the golden rule - for impactful change, Simone recommends at least three 15 to 20-minute workouts per week. Consistency is your best friend on this journey towards wellness.

How re-centre works

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About the Author

Simone Muller is the founder of re-centre and has over 15 years of teaching experience across Pilates, Low Pressure Fitness and Yoga.

She launched the online platform to make Low Pressure Fitness and Hypopressives more accessible to more women around the world so that they can become the strongest and most functional versions of themselves.

Originally from South Africa, Simone's dance and Pilates career evolved when she faced post-childbirth challenges, prompting her to explore Low Pressure Fitness in Spain.

As the first level 3 instructor in London, she has witnessed transformative postnatal rehabilitation results in clients, addressing issues like Diastasis Recti, prolapse and incontinence.

Simone has written articles for the re-centre blog 'Kegels not Working?', 'The connection between menstruation and prolapse symptoms' and 'Why I love teaching postnatal rehabilitation?'.

Simone has also written guest posts for The Shala 'What is Low Pressure Fitness', Yana Active 'Prioritising your Pelvic Floor Health After Giving Birth and Nurturing the Core' and for The Pelvic Academy 'Empowering Women's Health - The Power of Collaboration Between Hypopressives, Physiotherapists and Osteopaths'.

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What our members say

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Hypopressives is an effective technique toward relieving symptoms related to Pelvic Organ Prolapse, Diastasis Recti and Urinary Incontinence. Hypopressives also improves poor posture, pelvic floor weakness and back pain. I offer a flexible approach to memberships and a 14-day free trial.

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