Thread: Teaching Women With C-Section Issues

Hi Everyone - Can anyone comment on teaching students with nerve damage from c-sections? I have more than one student who has mentioned this, and I have no experience of it, so I am not sure how to help them access that area again.

Thanks!

- Leela

I'm in the same boat!

The main thing my students say to me is that they just don't have the "sensation" feedback when they are doing anything abdominal, particularly when it involves the lower abs in the pelvic area. So I've tried to get alternative ways for them to get some sensory feedback from their own bodies. Obviously it affects different people in different ways, but I suggest trying to feel the obliques, just above the hipbones (anterior superior iliac crest), or to sense how their lower back muscles are working (since any lower abdominal movement is likely to affect the lower back).

I also try to use imagery so that they can visualise the movement, such as trying to imagine pulling the two hipbones together (although I do explain this isn't exactly possible- it's only a visualisation!)

Originally Posted by flimflamgirl

Hi Everyone - Can anyone comment on teaching students with nerve damage from c-sections? I have more than one student who has mentioned this, and I have no experience of it, so I am not sure how to help them access that area again.

Thanks!

- Leela

I have nerve damage from c-section, specifically I can't feel or activate my lower abs. Or, I *can* activate them, but only with external cuing, for example, running my finger over my lower abs to see if they are actually moving. Very hard to create the movement when you can't tell if it's doing it or not.

What specifically are you trying to teach them? I may have some tips based upon the move.

FWIW, it doesn't significantly hinder my dance.

Originally Posted by beafarhana

I'm in the same boat!

The main thing my students say to me is that they just don't have the "sensation" feedback when they are doing anything abdominal, particularly when it involves the lower abs in the pelvic area. So I've tried to get alternative ways for them to get some sensory feedback from their own bodies. Obviously it affects different people in different ways, but I suggest trying to feel the obliques, just above the hipbones (anterior superior iliac crest), or to sense how their lower back muscles are working (since any lower abdominal movement is likely to affect the lower back).

I also try to use imagery so that they can visualise the movement, such as trying to imagine pulling the two hipbones together (although I do explain this isn't exactly possible- it's only a visualisation!)

Lengthening the tailbone, for example to go into neutral pelvis was useful for me, versus pulling in my lower abs.

Your advice is spot on Bea

my friend has nerve damage in her shoulder because of an injury and can't feel her left shoulder. i showed her the scapular mobilization on Ruby's floor workd dvd when we were doing pilates together one day (she told me about the injury after this) and what helped was for me to put one hand on her scapula and one on her spine, so that she could feel the movement happening.
for the lower abs that might be a bit intimate, so you can suggest they do it themselves to feel what's happening. BeaFarhana's idea of tieing it to something they can feel makes a lot of sense too.
i like what Ranya Renee says on her baladi DVD when instructing students to touch their stomach: "it's your body!" ^_~

For me personally (two C-sections), I needed lots and LOTS of practice at engaging my lower abs to 1) know how to do it with my decreased sensitivity, and 2) have the strength to do it easily.

When I first started, my lower belly bulged all the time, and it took extreme effort (ab muscles trembling after 10 seconds or so) to hold them "tight" (which still felt about like the Pillsbury Doughboy). I definitely needed external touch to trigger the muscles. Now, almost 2 years later, I hold them in lightly almost all the time without effort (is that what most people do unconsciously, and am I just conscious of it because of the dysfunction I experienced?), and can engage them much more strongly when needed for lifting, dance, etc. My skin is still baggy and I can stick my lower belly waaaay out if I want to, but most of the time it looks pretty flat because of that low-level muscle engagement. And my back doesn't hurt anymore.

First, I would recommend Kegels, as engagement of the pelvic floor is a great way to lead into engagement of the lower abs. I start there when I want to do a reverse undulation, for example, and that helps me move gracefully into the lower abs. I believe Ranya Renee recommends this technique.

Secondly, I owe most of my success to this fabulous DVD. I recommend it even for non-post-natal individuals who want to get in better touch with their lower abs (and what belly dancer doesn't?), but I would definitely recommend it to your students who are struggling with ab engagement, as I'm POSITIVE it will help them! It will take LOTS of time, though. Like I said, for me it's been a work-in-progress for almost 2 years, and I think I'm about to where your average person is as far as core/ab strength/awareness.