To think c section pain should not last forever?

[HolyMolyMeOhMy]

Hi all,
So I had an emergency c section 19 weeks ago now and recovered ok I thought within about 8/9 weeks. I started to exercise again and have in the last 4 weeks or so taken up doing ab exercises again eg. Sit ups, planks etc. I then started to feel a bit more pain generally around my scar area when moving in a certain way or picking up heavy objects.
Not enough pain for it to affect my day to day life but enough to make me stop exercising for a while. This didn’t make the pain go away, it just got slightly less but gets worse when I do any slight exercise like walking.
Anyway, I went to the GP about it last week and she was very dismissive, basically said that it’s still quite early after the birth and I’m likely to feel pain forever basically as the stomach will never completely go back to normal. She said she had her son by C section 11 years ago and still gets twinges of pain now. She also said I was fine to continue to exercise, I would just have to accept that it is going to hurt.
Has anybody else experienced this? Will it last forever?

I have had three sections and with the first it was problematic with infections for about sixteen weeks so painful until then, with the others I was pain free after about six weeks.

Seven years on from the last one I am definitely pain free. The overhang is my only reminder.

I’ve had 3 x sections but never had pain after the first couple of weeks with any. Including when exercising. I would perhaps ask to see another GP. Better safe than sorry.

I'm pretty sure you shouldn't do any kind of sit up/crunch/plank for at least six months, possibly a year after birth. (Struggling to remember what I was told now, but my friend is a PT specialising in post-birth exercise and I took her classes when I was on maternity leave).

I still have some pain from my c section and I have an 18 month old (mainly when he stands on my stomach). A friend who has a 7 year old still has some pain. I think unfortunately it can have a lasting impact.

I was definitely told that you shouldn't be doing any ab work - and crunches in particular - for a year after my ELCS as that's how long it takes the muscles to fully heal. I'm pretty much there now (DS is a year) but I get the odd twinge. I spoke to a physio who said that's entirely normal.

My emergency section used to hurt during some exercises for months. DS is an autumn baby and I remember my scar aching when I got back into running in the April.
Had a planned CS and hysterectomy within the next couple of years. No pain at all a decade on. The internal scars sometimes feel right when I'm pushing weights above my head, but it feels like a nice stretch, not uncomfortable.

feel tight

Within six weeks I was back at the gym doing crunches and pilates and I have had two c-sections. It didn't hurt any more than you would expect from muscles that hadn't been exercised for six months. It wasn't painful at all when I was inactive.

You shouldn’t be doing any sit up or crunch’s etc regardless of c section.

I had a baby 17 weeks ago, not a c section and have been doing Pilates the last 10 weeks. It’s a postnatal Pilates and it focuses on building abdominal deep muscles back together and they say until your muscles are all firmly back which is around a year, no sit ups or crunches etc should be done as it can cause damage and separation of deep muscles if they are still apart when you work on them.

I would lay off all those sit ups another 6 months at least. Then planks are better

Sorry to hear that you’re in pain. As whatswithtoday said, I think it was far too early to be doing any an exercises I’m afraid. I don’t mean that to sound chastising! Just that I would guess it put too much strain on that area before your body was ready even though it felt ok at the time. I also remember being told 6 months at the absolute earliest. I think c sections are funny old things in that it’s probably the only major surgery where you are expected to return to normal very soon afterwards as obviously you’ve got a baby to look after, and I wonder if that can give us a bit of a false sense of security of how much time our body actually needs to heal from the surgery.

My c section scar doesn’t cause me pain two years on but I think it was probably a year before it started to feel normal (the skin was very numb in that area for a long time, I guess where nerves had been cut?).

I think it’s a real shame that the GP was so dismissive of your pain. I would hope that if you could avoid any strain on your scar for a few months then the pain would start to ease off but obviously that’s based on no medical knowledge! Would it be an option to see a women’s health physio?

I started doing gentle ab exercises at 12 weeks after my section and it was uncomfortable and definitely twinged for the first few weeks but after that it was was fine.

Would look into diastasis recti and core stability for postnatal women before doing planks, sit ups etc - lots of those exercises aren’t recommended.

I had pain exercising (eg jogging) for a year or so after my first C section. Had a lot of adhesions, some dealt with at the second section and, after a few weeks recovery, had no pain after that one.

It is way too soon for that sort of exercise. Low impact swimming/walking from 6 weeks. Very gentle runs from 4 months or so. More vigorous exercise from about 6 months and nothing like ab exercises or very high impact exercise until about a year in my experience. You'll probably have to wait even longer as you've started exercise a bit to soon. I know because I did the same with my first section.

Listen to your body, if your tummy hurts afterwards, you are doing too much. Look up postnatal exercises, maybe find a class.

Pilates teacher here - I don’t recommend ab work at this stage, definitely no sit ups or planks. Possibly at 9-12 months, depending on the individual. You could be doing other core work though, working the deeper abdominals, maybe look up a postnatal class? Many are running online. Scar pain is hard to say, the deep tissues are still remodelling. If it’s not hurting all the time and just when you do certain things that sounds more like healing related to me than infection but keep an eye on it. You could also see if you can find someone/some instructions on how to do C section massage.

Thanks for all your replies! I’m a first time Mum so whether it’s because of current regulations or not I’ve found that the aftercare has been near non existent to be honest. I was discharged from
the hospital less than 24 hours after birth and I wasn’t really given any information on recovery. The last time anybody checked my scar (before the GP last week) was the midwife at 2 weeks post partum, where I was given antibiotics for a possible infection. I wasn’t told anything about exercise other than it’s not recommended until at least 6 weeks after.
Thanks for all the advice, will probably lay off the ab exercises for a while!

I had pain after my planned cs. It was specifically at one end of the scar. I went to the GP who said it was the nerve endings healing and not to worry. It got worse until at 4 months it burst open - turned out I had an abscess there. It was fairly gory and horrific.

Hopefully yours is not anything like that but I would ask the GP to recheck it just to make sure

The usual aftercare for postpartum is pretty shocking anyway tbh. There is the 6 week check, but quite often that’s a cursory glance at you and some questions about mental health. I do find that GPs have different knowledge/opinion to me when it comes to postnatal exercise. The accepted 6 week timeline is outdated. It’s a timeline for returning to most daily activities, but not really the licence for going for a 5 mile run that many people think it is. Even if you haven’t had a CS there is a lot of internal healing happening in the first 6-9 months postpartum

I had an instrumental delivery with my first and a large and painful episiotomy. Nobody looked or even really asked about that after discharge from midwifery care, until I went to see the GP at about 4 months postpartum because I still couldn’t sit comfortably thanks to coccyx issues

I've had two sections, and both times have been pain free after the first few months. I did have to take it easy for a surprisingly long time afterwards though, so maybe you over did it with the exercise (I'm a chronic exercise avoider so was never an issue for me).

I did find heavy lifting made my scare pull/ itch even a year afterwards (moving paving slabs in garden), but I stopped when I first felt it, and it settled again within a few days. Maybe put the exercise on hold for a while to give yourself time to re-heal, then when you do resume always stop at the first twing, before you do yourself any damage. Or try low impact exercise like swimming?

Not normal ask to see a different gp

I was told 9 months to a year for any abs work. Light exercise after 6 weeks but you won’t properly heal for a year.

I'm really surprised by people saying a year for ab exercises. Maybe that is the new acceptable standard, but I was doing HIIT training from 3 months PP, and that was after a c section.
The pain definitely isn't normal so I'd push for a second opinion.

I had an EMCS 11 months ago. I started some gentle postnatal pilates after 6 weeks and HIIT after 3 months. I wasn't told to avoid abs exercises or anything, just no high intensity training before 3 months. I have had no pain from my incision at any point.

Just change back to say - I have always been a front sleeper, but obviously didn't while pregnant and it was very uncomfortable for a while after birth. I was finally comfortable sleeping on my stomach nine months after birth, so I guess that's when I was properly healed.

*came back!

Have you checked for abdominal seperation as wel? As this could cause the pain as well.

Also: wtf. If you have pain you stop. Get it checked out. And sit ups???? No... just not yet after a c section. Give it a little bit longer. You only recently had a baby. You need it to be healthy, not straight away slim again