When can I start running again?

[Staceystoke]

I'm 10 weeks post partum and was wondering when I can start running again. I ran before I got pregnant but not while. I had a straightforward pregnancy and a 3rd degree tear during delivery. This has healed fine and no problems with it at all. I'm desperate to get my body moving, I've done some Buggyfit classes but they haven't really hit my cardio spot. I feel ready to start gentle jogging and building up my stamina again but I have read you should wait until 6 months. Does anyone have any advice/experience with this?

You can start as soon as you feel up to it. If you feel it's too much while running, stop. It shouldn't be feeling like it's too much while you're doing it, so just go gently to begin with and build up again slowly.

Are you under the care of a Women's Health Physio who could advise you?

I had a 3c tear 22 weeks ago. I healed well with no complications - recent endoanal scan has confirmed all is as it should be at this stage. I've been seeing a Women's Health Physio since 5 weeks post natally. I'm a very keen cyclist and road race, so as you can imagine wanted to get back training ASAP (I kept going throughout my pregnancy). Under the guidance of my Physio I was back on my bike at 4 weeks, but under strict instructions not to push myself, stick to flat riding and build up time slowly... then start building intensity. Nearly 6 months down the line I'm only just at a point where I can get away with climbing, sprinting and hard efforts. When I say 'get away with' I mean I don't have a drastic increase in symptoms - that 'heavy' feeling, urine leakage, farting and pooh leakage!!! This is doing a sport which doesn't impact on the pelvic floor like running does. It's worth noting that thanks to the input of my Physio I've been doing a full on pelvic floor exercise programme which has included bio-feedback, stimulation and muscular release in addition to standard pelvic floor exercises. I do like to go for an occasional run and I've missed that... so asked my Physio today if she thought I could give it a try, she said no immediately. She felt it'd put unnecessary impact and stress on my still recovering pelvic floor, not to mention slowing my recovery.

Even with all this taylored input to get me back to normal I'm still leaking small amounts of urine most days. Very occasionally I don't make it to the loo on time to pooh. It is still early days though - muscle takes approximately 3 months to heal and then another 3 months (with exercise) to return to normal strength.

Given it sounds like we are in a similar boat birth injury and exercise addiction wise 10 weeks for running sounds very very soon. Even with no tearing the core and pelvic floor still take a hammering during pregnancy and birth and take time and specific exercise to recover.

Could you do an alternative which wouldn't stress/ impact your pelvic floor to get your HR up like swimming or cycling? At least you'll get that endorphin fix but won't compromise recovery.

3 B tear

Ooft, well done! I had a year of physio after my 3c tear and couldn't (wasn't allowed to) exercise for that year.

I think you can definitely get active - brisk walking, swimming, yoga, weights etc - but in my experience high impact e.g. running and swimming...... well, I was very leaky

Basically, even if you feel fine I would wait longer to start high intensity stuff, because believe me, you do not want to further damage or weaken the muscles which are healing nicely now!

That should say running and SPINNING

I would get to a women's health physio, as others have mentioned. One that will do an internal examination to check that your pelvic floor muscles are still in tact and can tailor a pelvic floor workout for you. It's so, so important. It's very easy to do damage to yourself and once that damage is done, very hard to correct. I read once: go slow now to go hard later.

OP - I just remembered that my WH Physio encouraged me to go Aqua Jogging at 8 weeks post natally. She felt it'd have no impact on my pelvic floor, would be good to assist with rebuilding my core and would challenge my cycling muscles. You can buy the waist belt cheap on eBay. I tried a class but it just wasn't challenging enough and was too short. However when I did it on my own I was able to taylor it to my needs and was a marvellous workout as I could work at a level to maintain a zone 2/3 HR. There's lots of advice online as it looks like some runners use it to rehab injuries.

I was also warned about not doing too much as if my body was recovering from training it'd be diverting resources away from the healing muscles, therefore lengthening recovery. I kept everything endurance paced and short so I wasn't stressing my body.

Ok that's really helpful everyone, thank you. Not exactly what I wanted to hear but seems it would be sensible to wait to get back running to avoid any damage to myself. I am due to see a women's health physio in 2 weeks (I was meant to see them 2 weeks ago but my appointment was cancelled) so I will ask them about it then and see what their recommendations are after examining me.

I think I will do some swimming/cycling and possibly some weight training as well. I will have to youtube swim jogging and see what that is all about as ive never heard of it! I need to do something to keep myself sane and also to shift some baby weight as I have no clothes that fit me! Thanks everyone!