What Good Do Hip Binders Do Me After Birth?

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I was naïve to think that I would return to my pre-pregnancy size after giving birth to my first baby. After gaining 18kg (thanks to an excellent appetite both before and after delivery, not to mention a bar of chocolate every day), it struck me two months after delivery that I just wasn’t getting any smaller in size. I could hardly pull up my jeans or even fit into my tops without stretching the front buttons.

It was only after having my third child that I learnt about relaxin, the hormone naturally secreted during pregnancy, which is responsible for opening and softening the cervix and vagina to aid the process of childbirth. Relaxin also loosens the ligaments at the front of the pelvis (pubis symphysis) and the sacroiliac joints, and allows it to widen, both to support the growing baby and for ease of delivery. Incidentally, relaxin makes you slightly more susceptible to ankle and wrist sprains, and can be blamed for broader shoulders, a widened waistline, and a larger shoe size!

Many women notice their hips are wider after pregnancy, even after returning to their pre-pregnancy weight. The reason for this is because your growing baby pushed them out, eventually engaging in your pelvic cavity. Remember, the pelvic bone is not one big bone; it consists of four bones that are joined together by ligaments. After childbirth your hips looks wider not because your hipbones have grown, but because the ligaments that connect the four bones in your pelvis have loosened and are therefore “stretchable”.

The fact is that relaxin is still present in a mother’s body some eight weeks after delivery, and even longer if you are still breastfeeding.

This is where hip binders (or postnatal corset) come in. By leveraging the relaxin still present in a mother’s body after birth, wearing a hip binder provides an outer compression to gently guide the widened pelvic bones back to their original shape. By capitalising on these normal physiologic changes associated with pregnancy, a hip binder, when worn after delivery, applies pressure directly to your hips to help you return to your pre-pregnancy size.

There are a few hip binders on the market, namely Shrinkx Hips and Hip Slimmer that really help bring in your hips so you can fit into your old clothes once again. Additionally abdominal binding techniques will do the same job most effectively.

I have tried it, and I can attest that it works – I’m back to my size “0” jeans! 🙂

Karen Loke, Founder and Practitioner, Restoring Mums.[adrotate banner=”10″]

我很天真地以為我在生下第一個寶寶後就會回復懷孕前的身形。可是當我增重18公斤後（都是因為懷孕前後太開胃了，我每天都要吃一包巧克力），我驚覺自己在產後兩個月根本沒有減到磅。我不能再穿上產前買下的牛仔褲，我甚至要鬆開鈕扣才可以穿上產前買下的襯衫。

在我誕下第三個孩子後我才只知道什麼叫鬆弛激素。鬆弛激素是一種在懷孕時自然產生的一種荷爾蒙，負責打開和軟化子宮頸和陰道，幫助分娩。鬆弛激素也會鬆開盆骨（恥骨聯合）和骶髂關節前的韌帶，令它們可以變寬，支撐著正在成長的胎兒和幫助分娩。順便提一下，鬆弛激素會令您的腳踝和手腕稍微更容易扭傷，並會使肩部、腰圍和足部變得寬大。

很多女性注意到，即使她們回復懷孕前的體重，她們的臀部在懷孕後仍然很大。原因是懷孕時，妳的寶寶在妳的肚內一邊長大，一邊把妳的臀部及骨盆腔向外推。請記住，骨盆並不是一塊很大的骨塊；它包括四塊由韌帶連接在一起的骨頭。分娩後妳的臀部看起來很寬大，這不是因為妳的臀骨增生，而是因為在骨盆內連接那四塊骨頭的韌帶已經被拉鬆了。

事實是，分娩後的約八週內，鬆弛激素仍然存在於母體內。如果妳是母乳餵哺，鬆弛激素的留存時間會更長。

這就是束臀帶（及產後束腹帶）的由來。透過影響在產後仍然在母體內的鬆弛激素，穿束臀帶可以向變寬了骨盆施予外壓，引導其回復原狀。通過利用與懷孕有關的日常生理變化，在產後穿上束臀帶，它就會直接在妳的臀部施加壓力，幫助你回到你懷孕前的身形。

市面上有幾款束臀帶(臀圍帶)，名叫Shrinkx Hips和Hip Slimmer，它們真的能夠幫妳修臀，令妳可以再次穿回產前買下的衣褲。另外束腹技術也可以做到同樣的功效。

我已經試過了，我可以證明它是有效的──我可以穿回尺寸「0」的牛仔褲了！ 🙂

Restoring Mums創辦人和治療師Karen Loke