Become a Caesarean-Birth Informed Healthcare Practitioner

Overview

The aim of this course is to produce a caesarean-birth informed practitioner.

With roughly 30% of North American births occurring via caesarean, this is a patient population that you will encounter as a pelvic health or orthopedic practitioner.

With many women experiencing shame, guilt and the feeling that they “took the easy way out” following a C-section, it is important to be armed with the appropriate information and language necessary to help women prepare for this surgery and to recuperate afterwards. Understanding the components of preparation, the procedure, and recovery are key to any practitioner guiding women through the birth experience or developing treatment plans for rehabilitation.

A caesarean birth presents its own unique set of challenges for practitioners. Developing strategies for those scheduled for a C-section, educating our patients about caesarean but who are planning vaginal deliveries, and coping with the mental and physical trauma after birth should all be carefully considered. Rehabilitation techniques addressing the complications that can occur following a major abdominal surgery while simultaneously acknowledging the challenges associated with early motherhood are necessary for a well-balanced approach to recovery.

This course encourages a biopsychosocial framework, manual-based therapies, exercise and education to help practitioners build a comprehensive treatment plan for their patients. In recognizing that mothers who deliver via belly-birth are worthy of their own birth preparation, education, and rehabilitation plan we can begin to change the dialogue around caesarean birth, and in doing so, hopefully develop happier and healthier mothers.

Watch This Short Video Overview:

What’s Included in this course?

• Over 9 hours of education specific to rehabilitation concerns in patients undergoing caesarean.
• Useful pdf files for guiding you through caesarean surgery preparation, yellow flag monitoring, post-operative rehabilitation treatment guide, and pain journal template.
• Practical patient handouts for “Just in Case” of a caesarean delivery, in-patient bedside exercise program, and beginner c-section scar massage guidelines.
• PDF file of modified adheremeter and instructions for printing your own assessment tool.
• Bite-sized information: all of the content is broken down into bite-sized chunks, so that you can easily watch a video on your break, over lunch, or for a few minutes at night.
• Quizzes throughout to help you integrate the knowledge.
• Receipt upon purchasing this course. 
• Certification of completion. Once you've completed the course, you will receive a certificate for your professional portfolio.
• Access to this course is through Embodia, and while the provided handouts can be downloaded, the majority of the course content cannot. This is to protect the instructor’s material and to prevent the content from being shared freely on the Internet.
• Embodia is mobile-friendly and can be accessed by phone, tablet, and computer.
• There is no start date or completion date. You can complete the course at your own pace.
• A Special Coupon for 15% off any other online course on Embodia Academy when you’ve completed this course!

Learning Objectives 

1. To understand the comorbidities, injuries and concerns following caesarean delivery.
2. To have a general understanding of a caesarean surgical procedure and birth.
3. Be able to develop strategies for pain, complications and recovery in the immediate post-operative period.
4. To acquire evidence-based information regarding the benefits of abdominal binders following caesarean.
5. Gain a general understanding of c-section wound management, healing and the role for physiotherapy.
6. Build skills necessary for subjective and objective assessment in the sub-acute period and beyond.
7. To have an awareness of the unique challenges associated with caesarean including post-operative pain issues, wound healing, surgical adhesions, abdominal nerve entrapments and neuralgia, birth trauma, chronic scar pain, and special considerations for returning to exercise.
8. To gain strong skills for the differential diagnosis of abdominal wall pain following caesarean birth.
9. To develop the ability to screen for biopsychosocial influences on recovery and the appropriate treatment practices for such.
10. To feel confident in the use of the modified adheremeter – a tool to objectively assess scar mobility.
11. To build a selection of myofascial techniques for caesarean scar adhesion related pain and to improve scar mobility.
12. Have an arsenal of clinical tips and tricks to help guide patients through a caesarean recovery.
13. To feel confident developing a comprehensive plan for the preparation of a caesarean birth and rehabilitation afterwards.

Audience

Rehab professionals including physiotherapists, physiotherapy assistants, occupational therapists, occupational therapy assistants, registered massage therapists, kinesiologists, or any other exercise or manual based therapist who has an interest in helping women prepare for or recover from caesarean births.

Please note: This course is not intended to act as medical advice. Please seek guidance and treatment from your health professional in your area for any unmanaged conditions.