A Common Childbirth Injury That Most Women Don’t Know About
Ever heard of Levator Avulsion?
I have an injury. I can’t see it or feel it.
And there are thousands of other women who also suffer from this kind of injury — however, most are unaware of it.
What is Levator Avulsion?
The pelvic floor muscles hold all our pelvic organs in place — think vagina, uterus, bladder, rectum… all the fun parts!
These muscles are called Levator muscles and are like a big elastic band that stretches from the pubic bone to the spine, holding everything up. Like a ‘second diaphragm’, if you will.
What happens when an elastic band snaps? It’s hard to stick back together, right? That is a Levator Avulsion (pelvic floor muscle trauma) — an injury that occurs during vaginal childbirth in approx 20% of women.
(During child birth)The levator muscles are stretched by 1.5 to more than 3 times their normal length as the baby passes through, depending on the size of both baby and pelvic floor muscle opening. In many women, these muscles return to normal but in 10–30% of women the muscles are overstretched or sometimes torn off the bone. This injury is called a ‘levator avulsion’.¹
