Myths about Aniball

Can we compare previous generations to today's expectant mothers?

• Women give birth at a later age, can accumulate more civilisation diseases, injuries, surgeries, and usually take more medications, including hormonal contraception.
  

• We have less movement, sedentary jobs and a passive way of life or, conversely, excessive inappropriate sports activities lead to problems (not only) of the musculoskeletal system.
  

• We are also negatively affected by inappropriate lifestyle and especially long-term stress.

All this affects the pelvic floor – its tension increases, thereby impairing the ability to relax the birth canal, which can significantly complicate the course of childbirth and increase the risk of injury.

Birth injuries should not be accepted as a normal part of giving birth. They leave scars on the body and soul. Let's prevent them with pre-birth preparation, so that even after birth we live fully, actively and joyfully.

To behave intuitively and spontaneously during childbirth is definitely natural.

• The animals in nature quietly resort to seclusion and give birth in peace, safety and intimately. They have the opportunity to listen to their instincts and their intuition.

• Women are often deprived of the feeling of intimacy compared to them during childbirth by various disturbing influences in the delivery room (many people, too much light, noise, cold…), which prevent them from relaxing and spontaneous behaviour. All of this triggers a stress response that can complicate childbirth in many ways.

• Preparation with Aniball allows women to experience the feelings that accompany childbirth and gradually learn to work with them with the help of the breath in a suitably chosen position in a gentle way. They start trusting their own body, intuition and behave naturally.

Unfortunately, this is one of the most common misunderstandings. The purpose of Aniball is not to stretch the vagina, the birth path, or to stretch the perineum.

• The goal of the exercise is to learn to consciously relax the birth paths with the help of the breath so that during childbirth we avoid fierce pushing, which often results in injury and can cause a lack of oxygen for the baby in the birth canal.
  

• If the birth canal remains tight, the baby's journey into the world is more difficult.

The purpose of the exercise is not to reach the largest circumference of the balloon. Aniball is inflatable so it can adapt to every woman's anatomy.

• Performance and size are not important – the most important thing is to listen to your body. Aniball should only inflate so far, that it causes a feeling of slight tension, not pain. It is strongly recommended not to cross the circumference of 25 cm.
  

• Focus on the gradual relaxation of the pelvic floor with the help of the breath. Do not force the balloon out and do not overinflate Aniball.

The balloon is not intended for muscle expansion and should not be used in this way – always follow the instructions in the manual and listen to your own body. If we overwork and stretch our muscles too much during daily exercise with the balloon, it will not help us with childbirth.

Everything has its time – the birth canal is ready to pass the baby only during the birth itself thanks to a unique cocktail of hormones and contractions.

Every third mother experiences a weakening of the pelvic floor and stress incontinence after childbirth. It is mostly caused by injuries that occur during birth, but gravity and hormones during pregnancy play major roles too. If incontinence does not disappear within six months after birth, we should actively address it.

• Aniball does not cause stress incontinence. On the contrary, it helps us to keep fit from six weeks after delivery onwards.
  

• Regular training including activation and relaxation of pelvic floor muscles significantly reduces the risk of incontinence issues. According to a study by Ruiz de Viñaspre, insufficient pelvic floor muscle training during the postpartum period is one of the most significant factors causing incontinence.

Proper use of Aniball is safe for both mother and child. The goal of the balloon exercise is not the expansion of the vaginal walls. Adverse reactions have not yet been reported from gynaecologists, midwives or physiotherapists.

Aniball is a medical device tested in perinatological research which investigates the effect of pelvic floor exercise with a vaginal balloon in Czech women. Its positive effect was also addressed in connection with the prevention of episiotomy (a cut of the perineum)during childbirth. The growing popularity of Aniball in the gynaecological-obstetric, urogynaecology, physiotherapeutic and female communities confirms that it significantly reduces the risk of medical intervention, perineum tears and their consequences.

Aniball is not a miracle that guarantees childbirth without complications and medical interventions. It helps you to understand your body and trust yourself, but Aniball won't do all the hard work. Performance-oriented women who misunderstand its purpose or women who lean towards contraindications should not use it.

• Some births are performed without surgery, but this is not the rule and it depends on several factors – including the mother’s age, the number of previous births, the weight of the child, etc.
  

• Aniball is designed for active women who want to prevent the risk. Appropriate preparation significantly increases the chance of childbirth without injury, as confirmed by the studies mentioned in this article.

During childbirth, a hormonal cocktail is released and our body is supported by contractions, which we don't experience during weeks of preparation with Aniball. But the important thing is that in terms of breath, preparation and childbirth itself do not differ.

• The diaphragm and pelvic floor are like Siamese twins – with the inhale they both relax. When we breathe calmly, deep into the abdomen, we naturally breathe the baby into the world without controlled pushing.
  

• Learning how it works can take us a while. And that’s exactly what Aniball helps us with – it teaches us that the relaxation of the pelvic floor comes with an inhale, just when the balloon has tendencies to slip out. The principle works the same during childbirth.