Fit Mama Perth

I got this question from a client and I know she isn't the only one wondering about it.

"I had a third-degree tear when my baby was born. Will I ever be able to exercise properly again or have I done permanent damage?"

I know an injury like this can make you wonder whether you’ll ever get back to doing the things you enjoy. But a tear doesn’t mean that chapter is over. It may take some extra time and the right specialised care, but getting back to an active life is still something you can work towards.

A third-degree tear falls under what is called an Obstetric A**l Sphincter Injury, because it involves the muscle that controls the a**s.

The single most important thing you can do is work with a pelvic health physiotherapist, ideally one experienced with this kind of injury. They can assess how the muscle is healing, guide your rehabilitation and build a plan that is right for your body rather than a generic timeline. This isn't an area to guess your way through alone.

From there, returning to exercise is absolutely realistic, it's simply gradual and led by what your body is showing rather than by dates on a calendar. We rebuild the foundation first, we watch for any symptoms and we progress as you're ready.

If you're experiencing anything like difficulty controlling wind or bowel movements, please raise it with your health team rather than carrying it in silence, because these things are more common than women are led to believe and there is a lot that can help.

As your trainer, I can't diagnose or treat the injury itself and I would never try to. What I can do is make sure your training supports your recovery, work alongside your pelvic health physiotherapist and meet you exactly where your body is.

You don’t have to just put up with it and hope for the best, there’s support available and you deserve to have the right people helping you through it.

Is this a conversation you wish someone had opened with you sooner?

Nobody hands you a clear explanation of this in the middle of everything a new baby brings and then it can feel too late or too awkward to ask.

So here it is, without fear & not to worry you but to give you the words for your own body.

Understanding what happened is often the first step toward feeling supported in your recovery.

This week we're talking about something many mums have experienced and few have had explained to them properly: perineal tearing during birth.

The perineum is the area of tissue between the vaginal opening and the a**s. As your baby is born, it's common for the perineum to stretch and sometimes tear and understanding what those tears actually involve matters, because it shapes how you recover and how you return to movement afterward.

**We don't share this information to frighten anyone who is pregnant and it isn't here to make anyone who has been through this feel defined by it. It's here so that you have the language for your own experience, so that if this happens to you, you understand it and so that you know what good support looks like.

We'll move through the degrees of tearing, what the term OASI means and why the right recovery support makes such a difference. Save this and come through the week with me.

Did anyone properly explain your birth recovery to you afterward? Comment below ⬇️

What a week! Thank you to every woman who let me share her story, it takes something to be seen and I don't take it lightly.

If you have been reading these all week wondering whether there is a place for you here, let me answer that plainly, there is.

I could talk all day about what is possible, but it lands differently coming from a mum who has lived it.

Here’s Samantha sharing what her journey has actually been like. Not just a change you can see in a photo, but a real difference in how she feels and moves through everyday life.

💗 She didn’t transform, she came back.

This week, I’m sharing something I love: the stories of the beautiful women who make our Fit Mama community what it is.

Because progress isn’t always about changing your body. Sometimes it’s about feeling more like yourself again, finding your strength, rebuilding your confidence and making small changes that add up over time.

That’s the kind of progress I believe in. The kind that feels good, lasts, and reminds you just how strong you are.

Keep an eye out this week for stories from women in our Fit Mama family. You might just see a little piece of your own journey in theirs.

I almost didn’t share this because the full story is a little harder to fit into a carousel than a simple rule.

But you're smart and you deserve the actual state of the science, which is that this sits in a grey area the experts are still working through.

Read it, notice what your own body tells you and bring it to your health professional, that is what informed looks like.

If you have been pregnant, you have probably been told the rule: no exercising flat on your back after 20 weeks.

This week I want to open up the conversation and actually talk about where it comes from, because the science underneath it's more of a conversation than a hard line and we want you to be part of that conversation rather than simply handed the instruction.

Here is the short version of why the caution exists: as your uterus gets heavier, lying flat can press on a large vein called the inferior vena cava, which carries blood back up to your heart. For some women that pressure causes symptoms like dizziness or feeling faint and there is a theoretical flow-on to blood flow to your baby, that is a mechanism and worth respecting.

What is less well known is that the evidence behind the "avoid it" advice was never strong and newer research is asking whether the caution has been drawn too tightly for some women.

Over the next few days I am going to lay out both sides openly, the reasons you might choose to follow it and the reasons you might, with good information and your own body's signals, decide differently.

I’m not here to tell you what to do, but I am here to share all the information so you can make the decision for yourself.

I want to know, were you ever told why or only told the rule?

Today holds two things at once, it's the "To Breathe" theme of Women's Health Week, focused on mental wellbeing and it's also R U OK? Day, the national day for checking in on the people around us.

So I am going to do the thing the day is asking and check in on you. How are you, actually? Not the answer you give while you're half out the door, the honest one.

Motherhood has a way of filling every hour so completely that your own mental wellbeing becomes the thing you look at last, if at all. You can be holding everything together for everyone else and be far from okay underneath it and both of those can be true at the same time.

If today you realise the honest answer is that you're not doing so well, please treat that as information worth acting on, not something to push down and keep carrying.

Talk to someone you trust, your GP, a partner, a friend who gets it. You're allowed to be the one who needs the check in, not only the one who does the checking.

If you're doing okay, this is your nudge to ask someone else the question today and to really listen to the answer.

This is a sensitive one, so I am keeping the comments a soft place. If today is hard for you and you would rather reach out privately, my door is open.