When the Canberra Chill hockey team ran out to play in the Hockey One competition this year, player Jessica Clements had to watch on from the sideline.
In her arms sat the reason why.
“This is little Hugh, he’s 12 weeks old, he’s my first baby!” she said with a smile.
Making her return to the hockey pitch postpartum was always on the cards for Jessica, but she knew it wouldn’t be an easy feat.
“After birth was quite a struggle for me and it still has been,” Clements said.
“Being fit my whole life and then struggling to get back into it and not knowing how far to push my body postpartum as well.
“Then you’ve got the other side of it, where you’ve got a weak pelvic floor, so you go for a walk and then you need to go to the toilet.”
When you watch a women’s sporting game, chances are some of the athletes are also mothers.
But finding the appropriate person to help manage an athlete’s return is not as easy as it seems, particularly at an amateur level.
After some encouragement from her husband, who is a physiotherapist, Clements took it upon herself to seek a women’s physio to help with her return to sport.
She said it wasn’t the most obvious option for her.
“It’s a struggle, even in this day and age, trying to find a women’s health physio or someone that you trust that can help you through this postpartum stage,” Clements said.
“I don’t think it’s as common as what it should be.
“It’s not always going to be the same after birth, but definitely seeing a physio, I would highly recommend it to anyone.”
‘A long way to go’
Physiotherapist Lauren Riddell, who specialises in women’s health, has just about seen it all in the last six years.
“Sometimes we’ll get really great athletes coming in who already know about pelvic floor that have already been training it really hard,” Ms Riddell said.
“Sometimes they’ve tried it out, they’ve gone to training, they’ve had a little bit of urine leakage or felt some heaviness and that’s when they’ve said ‘oh, I need to go see someone’.”
Despite having an affiliation with some Canberra sporting teams, Ms Riddell said the women’s health space had a long way to go.
She said a lack of awareness around available options might be preventing athletes from seeking appropriate help.
“In an amateur level, they’re less likely to have that consultation, the coaches are less likely to suggest a women’s health consultation,” Ms Riddell said.
“Because we’ve just copy and pasted how we treat a footy club into women’s footy as well, they’re missing that really big aspect of women needing a lot more pelvic floor attention than men.”
She has advice for clubs looking to better support their players.
“Get women’s health physios on staff or consulting for women who aren’t pregnant, women who are post-pregnancy, women who are just having issues outside of all that kind of stuff, is really important too,” she said.
While getting back to her former physicality is a steady process for Clements, her goal is clear.
“I don’t think I’ll get back this year, although I would like to play a few games, but next year my goal is to get back and play for the Canberra Chill,” she said.
“Just getting back into enjoying hockey and loving what I do.”