It might not be widely spoken about, but it is a very common and devastating problem for thousands of Australian women – poor pelvic health. While the data is minimal, a 2-year study was conducted on the Gold Coast analysing 2,800 women. All were asked about their symptoms post-birth and the results are disturbing. Three months after birth, one in three women struggled to control their bladder, one in 10 suffered faecal incontinence and one in two experienced pain with sex.

Women’s health physiotherapist, Lyz Evans, runs a clinic in Sydney and explains that injuries as a result of giving birth can be extremely distressing for women.

“On a daily basis, I’m sitting… with women in tears. And the impact of that emotion isn’t just to that woman. It affects her partner. It affects her children” she told the ABC.

Physiotherapy during both pregnancy and post-partum is key in ensuring that women don’t suffer from such catastrophic injuries and if they do, they can heal. However, the Australian private medical system is expensive and the medical public system currently offers no free sessions with a pelvic physiotherapist, something that Ms Evans believes would make a huge difference for women.

“It is a true hidden epidemic in our society that needs to be addressed”, she says.

The Australian Physiotherapy Association (APA) is asking the federal government to provide five Medicare-funded sessions for all women with a pelvic physiotherapist during their child-bearing year.

The chair of the APA’s advisory council thinks this is the most affordable option for the government to start addressing this issue.

“The cost of five physiotherapist appointments for women in birthing in Australia has a much better economic value than the future interventions that they might need, including surgery and also the inability to return to work due to their pelvic floor symptoms” she says.