Dr. Bryan Baisinger, owner of Clearwater Clinic in Portland, OR, has been working with Cesarean moms since 1994. The techniques he describes below can help kick start healing, both physically and emotionally:
When there is an unexpected Cesarean, there is emotional trauma involved with the physical procedure that is beyond birth. As soon as I recognize that there is emotional trauma involved, I ask if they have gotten help emotionally – from a loved one, professional support group, therapy.
I communicate that I will handle the physical part, but will also be emotionally aware and tread lightly with the mom and make sure she gets the emotional help she needs. The physical and emotional healing and trauma is intertwined, it’s layered and tangled.
Then I look at physically what a mom is trying to do; running, lifting weights, chase their toddler around the house. The work I would do at that point is to focus on the scar tissue. You can think of a circle with a dot in the middle of it, the scar tissue is the dot, but for complete healing you have to look at the whole circle and everything in the whole body.
That’s where, for example, I might adjust their feet specifically thinking about getting the feet work in a more uninhibited way in order for the pelvis to work better.
Then I do light Guasha, which is massage with a tool, then some abdominal massage. There is a whole world in the abdomen and when a Cesarean has occurred, especially an unexpected one, there is a lot of emotional upset and turbulence physically and emotionally.
Therapeutic ultrasound is also very helpful. A little bit of ultrasound will help to break up what’s called non-constructive fibers or excess material that is really stuck and doesn’t need to be there.
The ideal time to come in for this kind of treatment is when the mom is ready. Sometimes moms are ready, really early and sometimes it takes 16 years.