Physiotherapy approach: Evaluation and treatment of breastfeeding difficulties after instrumental births.

Ana María Insausti, IZASKUN MONTORI, Paula Camelia Trandafir
Purpose:

To determine whether physiotherapy improves the establishment of breastfeeding and reduces breastfeeding difficulties.

Methods:

This pilot randomized study employed a pre-post intervention design with 30 participants. The inclusion criteria were: difficulties in breastfeeding, instrumentalized delivery, prior decision to exclusively breastfeed, full-term neurotypical babies up to 16 weeks of age, no diagnosis of ankyloglossia, and having received advice from an IBCLC but continuing to experience breastfeeding difficulties.

Results:

Breastfeeding difficulties such as baby irritability, unequal breast holding, pain during feedings, mastitis, and nipple cracks showed substantial improvement. Additionally, there was a significant improvement in the baby’s cervical joint range of motion, including right and left lateral bending (p0.001), right rotation (p0.007), and left rotation (p0.001) following physiotherapy treatment.

Conclusion(s):

The study indicates that breastfeeding difficulties after instrumental delivery are related to asymmetric tone in the cervical muscles. This asymmetry affects the biomechanics and function of breastfeeding. Manual physiotherapy treatment of the cervical region promotes symmetry in muscle tone, thereby improving breastfeeding difficulties.

Implications:

Preventive actions that favor the correct and satisfactory establishment of exclusive breastfeeding will favor the health of the baby and the mother, avoiding future problems.

Physiotherapy should be included in breastfeeding units.

Physiotherapy is key in the assessment and treatment of breastfeeding difficulties.


Funding acknowledgements:
Study without public funding.
Keywords:
Breastfeeding
Manual therapy
Breastfeeding pain
Primary topic:
Paediatrics
Second topic:
Women's health
Third topic:
Health promotion and wellbeing/healthy ageing/physical activity
Did this work require ethics approval?:
Yes
Name the institution and ethics committee that approved your work:
Public University of Navarre : This project was approved by the Ethics Committee (PI-023/22).
Provide the ethics approval number:
PI-023/22
Has any of this material been/due to be published or presented at another national or international conference prior to the World Physiotherapy Congress 2025?:
No

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