The Importance of Physiotherapy in the Puerperal Period of the Woman

The theme of this thesis is The importance of physiotherapy in the puerperal period in women. As far as pregnancy is concerned, not only is available excellent health care important for women, but there are a large number of organizations that provide advisory services, exercises for pregnant women, and antenatal education for mothers-to-be. Unfortunately, this care usually ends soon after childbirth and women in puerperium, who go through many physical and mental changes, are not given such attention. It is precisely in this period that women deserve some interest in their health status. In the field of physiotherapy, they should be given sufficient information about the changes undergoing in their organisms, about the effects and principles of exercises after childbirth, about the suitability of positioning and about other issues with which women who have just given birth meet. The objective of the thesis was to study the physical changes in women after childbirth, to develop a plan for rehabilitation exercises, and to explore whether individual therapy has a positive impact on the status of the mother. The theoretical part deals with the composition of the birth canal, physiological changes during pregnancy, childbirth problems, childbirth injuries, involutionary changes in the organism during puerperium, and appropriate physiotherapeutic methods. The experimental part is devoted to qualitative research where the following methods were used: history, status praesens, direct monitoring, exit examinations, case studies and a secondary data analysis. The research was conducted in two patients after physiological childbirth and in one patient after Caesarean section. These patients were selected from a basic sample of patients at a gynaecology and obstetrics department. The results of the thesis identified some positive effects of after-childbirth physiotherapy on the carriage of body, breathing stereotype, deep stabilization system and the adjustment of the most prominent muscle imbalances. The objectives of the thesis were met. The new findings, which this work has brought, undoubtedly include pointing out the importance of physiotherapy during this period, impossibility to standardize such care due to personhood of each woman, and the importance attention given to the woman?s body as a whole after childbirth because to care for only its most visibly affected parts is not enough