The Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists says 80% of women experience tearing during labor and first time mums are at risk of severe perineal tears.
How can this be prevented?
Childbirth is primarily about women, and her intuition & readiness for childbirth itself. Unfortunately, this is being extremely challenged due to modern age lifestyle barriers that prevent women to be fully connected to her pelvic floor & intuition.
LEARN MORE IN THE mini e-BOOK EVERY MIDWIFE SHOULD READ
Aniball is a proprioceptive aid to help women feel and understand their own bodies, and listen to their intuition. It helps to discover the pelvic floor and find out how to work with it effectively in the context of the breath. For example by allowing the woman to find the most comfortable birthing position.
- Designed for prenatal preparation, prevention of perineal injuries and stress urinary incontinence.
- As part of the antenatal preparation, the woman becomes familiar with the feeling of pressure (similar to feelings during delivery), learns how she works with it & how she can consciously relax.
- Exercise can result in alleviation in the 2nd stage parturition and reduction of the risk of spontaneous injury or the need of episiotomy.
- Collected medical references from the delivery rooms confirm that women that used Aniball for preparation know how to naturally navigate through birth, they behave intuitively, they spontaneously choose the best position, and calmly "breathe" the baby into the world without injury.
- The main results of the clinical study prove that Aniball is safe, does not cause vaginal dilation and reduces the risk of episiotomy by 60% (British Journal of Midwifery, February 2023, Vol 31, No 2).
- The aim of the training is NOT to mechanically dilate the birth canal. The size achieved during training is irrelevant.
- Aniball should be also used regularly after the sixth Sunday after birth, which contributes to the restoration of proper pelvic floor function and the prevention of stress incontinencein the later period.
- We suggest exercising since the end of week 36 of pregnancy, for about 15-30 minutes a day.
- Exercises effectively help to practice conscious relaxation of the pelvic floor with breath - without forceful pushing
- It allows trying out a suitable birth position and a feeling of pressure
- Supports intuition and spontaneous expulsion
- Contributes to effective physical and mental readiness and confidence for childbirth
Download our professional handbook for midwifes and physiotherapists, where we have collected the best evidence-based information about mental and physical birth preparation methods.
So, what will the e-book reveal to you?
Practicing conscious relaxation of the pelvic floor, working with the breath, the opportunity to "train" the feeling of pressure, increased self-confidence and the feeling that I have done my best for myself.....that's what it's all about...
Bc. Anna Fančovičová
Midwife
Practicing conscious relaxation of the pelvic floor, working with the breath, the opportunity to "train" the feeling of pressure, increased self-confidence and the feeling that I have done my best for myself.....that's what it's all about...
Bc. Anna Fančovičová
Midwife
Practicing conscious relaxation of the pelvic floor, working with the breath, the opportunity to "train" the feeling of pressure, increased self-confidence and the feeling that I have done my best for myself.....that's what it's all about...
Bc. Anna Fančovičová
Midwife
What does the latest clinical research about Aniball show to the medical community?
The prospective cohort study *Investigating antenatal pelvic floor training using a vaginal balloon device in Czech women, was conducted by Fousek et al., published in the British Journal of Midwifery, (February 2023, Vol 31, No 2).shows that antenatal pelvic floor training with the Aniball device from 36 weeks of gestation in women delivering at term reduces the incidence of episiotomies (cases: 34% vs controls: 59%; P=0.007).and the total number of birth injuries (80 vs. 97%, P = 0,005).
This study examined birth outcomes in Czech nulliparous women with spontaneous cephalic vaginal birth at term, comparing training with a balloon device antenatally or not training with a device.
Among other things, this study concluded that Aniball is safe and does not increase the risk of levator ani avulsion, because there was no difference in the incidence of pelvic floor injuries (levator ani muscle avulsion) between exercisers and non-exercisers. This is very positive news for Aniball, as it confirms that Aniball use does not compromise the integrity of the pelvic floor and thus does not cause urogynecological problems in the future.
Other incidental findings:
more frequent exercise does not lead to a further reduction in the number of birth injuries or an improvement in their spectrum
the most common maximum circumference was 25 cm - confirming that it is not desirable to inflate the balloon more => reducing psychological stress and pressure to perform
exercising women reported no reduction in quality of life. In contrast, comparing the prevalence of urinary, anal incontinence and sexual dysfunction after childbirth between the two groups, more non-exercising women reported stress incontinence (p = 0.066) and impaired quality of sexual life (p = 0.14)
The analysis of the causes of women's withdrawal after childbirth revealed a non-significant reduction in the number of vaginal extraction operations in practicing women (6.8 vs. 17.3%, p = 0.0895)
