Physical Therapy for New Dads

Congratulations on fatherhood! It’s an exhilarating and nerve-racking time rolled up into one. While you’re certainly obsessing over your new baby boy or girl, we want to remind you to also look after yourself between bouts of changing diapers, tickling bellies, and making goofy faces to get giggles (OK, those last two parts are fun).

While we recently published an article about the necessity of physical therapy for new moms, we’re here to let you know that you will benefit too. Now we know what you’re thinking – guys don’t give birth, so there are no compromised musculoskeletal concerns to contend with, nor much else, right? While mothers out there appreciate that you realize what they go through, we’re here to let you know that you’re going through some things as well (as a new dad). Moreover, physio can help with these conditions. Let’s review!

3  Ways New Fathers Directly Benefit from Seeing a Physiotherapist

1. Helps Correct Physical Postpartum Conditions

You may not experience a woman’s physical postpartum conditions, but you should get a physiotherapy assessment as soon after a baby enters your life. You’re going to be picking them up, carrying them in their car seats, folding and unfolding and loading and unloading strollers, and all sorts of physical activities that are foreign to your body. This ain’t a typical gym experience fellas. You may know what form to employ when doing bicep curls in the mirror, but we guarantee that you’re oblivious about how to properly do the baby-related movements that we’ve just described. If you have any underlying ailments, conditions such as lower back pain, shoulder tendinopathy, rotator cuff (RC) dysfunction, neck pain, or some other concern will quickly rear its head. Furthermore, your body becomes susceptible to new types of overuse injuries.

A physiotherapist will provide a comprehensive assessment to ensure your body is ready to be a “baby daddy”. Furthermore, your therapist will provide a customized exercise and movement regime to ensure you’re body will adapt as your child grows (and gets heavier, and heavier).

2. Can Help Reactivate Sex Life with Your Wife

It’s entirely normal for both a woman’s and man’s libido to drop during the first 6-to-9 months following the birth of their child. While new moms may have to contend with conditions such as dyspareunia and preexisting pelvic floor dysfunction, men have other postpartum sexual concerns.

For instance, it is not uncommon for men to experience erectile dysfunction (ED) after the birth of their child. Any life transition can bring up a number of challenges for men and can be a time of increased anxiety and stress and shifts in the nature of a relationship with the mother of their child. These factors can impact your libido and erections, especially if you are already predisposed to ED due to some physical ailment. While mental health counseling is often suggested for men with ED, a full service physiotherapy clinic can assess other things that may contribute to ED and provide corrective treatments. View more on how physical therapy is employed to treat ED, how we can help improve your physical connection with the mother of your child, and how our discipline is employed to improve one’s sex life in general.

3. Getting a Better Night’s Sleep (when baby lets you)

As you already know, one of the biggest struggles new dads have, is sleep. You’re tasked with taking turns to get up when your child awakes in a stupor. While there’s nothing you can do about that when your new baby demands to be bottle-fed or cuddled, you should take every advantage of when he/she is fast asleep. Yet despite how tired you may be, you may have trouble falling and sustaining sleep. This may be due to stress and anxiety, or from the aggravated injuries we addressed above. It’s more than likely some combination of it all. Don’t let the stress of not being able to sleep (when baby allows it) keep you up even longer at night. Here are the 5 ways a physiotherapist can help you achieve better sleep.