Prenatal Prep in Hollywood, FL
Get your pelvic floor, core and hips ready for labor and for the months after, instead of waiting until something hurts.
What is prenatal prep?
Prenatal prep is physical therapy for a body that is being reorganized every few weeks. As the pregnancy progresses your center of gravity moves forward, the ribs and pelvis shift to make room, and the load carried by the pelvic floor climbs. That is why low back and hip ache, pubic and sacroiliac pain, a sciatic line down one leg, and leaking when you sneeze tend to show up in the second and third trimesters. None of it means you are doing pregnancy wrong. It is a mechanics problem, and mechanics respond to training. Visits are one on one with a licensed pelvic health therapist, 30 to 60 minutes, in a private room, and the plan is written for the trimester you are in rather than for pregnancy in general.
The work has two jobs. The first is comfort now: hands-on release for tight hips, ribs and pelvic floor, joint mobility where the pelvis has stopped sharing load evenly, and coaching on how to sit, stand, lift a toddler and get out of a car without stressing the same tissue a hundred times a day. The second is preparation: teaching the pelvic floor to contract and, more to the point, to lengthen and release on cue, which is what pushing actually asks of it, then coordinating that with breath and abdominal pressure. Core and postural strength is built alongside both, and everything is adjusted as you change, because you will.
Who it's for.
You do not have to be in pain to start, and you do not need clearance from anyone: Florida is a direct-access state, so prenatal physical therapy can begin without a physician referral. Three of the most common reasons people book.
Pain that arrived mid-pregnancy
Low back, one hip, the pubic bone, or a sciatic line down the back of a leg. It started somewhere around the middle of the pregnancy and it has been getting louder since. Manual therapy for the tight side, joint mobility for a pelvis that is loading unevenly, and specific strength work for what has gone quiet is the usual combination, and most people notice a difference within a few weeks when they keep up the home work.
Preparing for labor and for after
No pain, only a plan. You want to know how to push without holding your breath, how to keep the pelvic floor lengthening instead of clamping, which positions take load off the pelvis, and what to do in the first weeks postpartum. Learning that before delivery is considerably easier than learning it while recovering from one.
Leaking, heaviness, or a doming midline
Bladder leaks with a sneeze. A dragging heaviness low down by the end of a long day. A midline that ridges up when you sit forward out of bed. All three are common in pregnancy and none of them are things you have to wait out. Addressing them now is also the shortest route to an easier postpartum recovery.
What to expect in Hollywood.
Nothing about a prenatal visit is strenuous, and nothing happens without your say-so. Here is how a first appointment runs, and what the visits after it look like.
Assessment of posture, mobility and strength
Your therapist watches how you stand, breathe and move, checks rib and hip mobility, tests abdominal and pelvic floor strength, and asks about pain, leaking, bowel habits and your delivery plans. Pelvic floor assessment may include internal work. It is explained first, it is optional, and you can decline it and still be treated.
Hands-on relief and a plan for your trimester
The same visit includes treatment: soft tissue release for what is tight, gentle joint work, and supported positions that take load off the painful area. You leave with a short home program written for where you are in the pregnancy, plus body mechanics for the things you repeat all day.
Visits that change as you do
Follow-ups shift as the pregnancy moves along: more pelvic floor lengthening and breath coordination as you get closer to delivery, more support work for the hips and midline as the load increases. Your therapist tells you at the evaluation what the plan looks like for your case.
Let us know if you have been told you have placenta previa, a short or shortening cervix, preterm labor, preeclampsia or high blood pressure, or if you have had any bleeding or fluid leaking, and tell us if your obstetric provider has restricted your activity. Those change what we do, and internal assessment is usually deferred. Anything acute, including reduced fetal movement, regular contractions before term, or sudden severe headache or swelling, goes to your obstetric provider or the hospital first, not to us.
I recently had the pleasure of working with Leslie, and I couldn't be more grateful for the experience. From the moment we met, Leslie's warmth and genuine care put me at ease.
Where to go next.
Women's Health
Care across every stage: cycles, fertility, pregnancy, postpartum and perimenopause.
Diastasis Recti
Rebuild a core that connects again, without crunches or a band for life.
Postpartum Recovery
Six weeks and cleared is not the same as recovered. This is the rest of it.