What is a birth injury?

There is still a lot of stigma around physical birth injuries, with people who have a birth-related injury often feeling a lot of shame in talking about it. Before we dive into this, let’s start at the beginning: what actually is a birth injury?

Birth injuries are physical injuries experienced during childbirth. They can include (but are not limited to) the outlined below. They can be small or large - from an injury that stops you from joining your kids on the trampoline (read Helen Ledwick’s Why Mums Don’t Jump) to the kind that makes you not want to go out anymore (like Ruth here) or wish you hadn’t had another child.

To all of those impacted by a birth injury: know that you’re not alone. Support is out there. Recovery is possible.

The impact of birth injuries

How many are suffering in silence?

For Birth Trauma Awareness Week 2022 (18-23 July) – the theme being Physical Birth Injuries: diagnosis and treatment – we conducted a study together with our partners at the Birth Trauma Association UK and the Australasian Birth Trauma Association.

Our study clearly shows the substantial impact birth-related injuries have on people’s daily lives, their mental and physical well-being, relationships and intimacy.

With the incredible stigma clinging to it, we are left wondering how many are suffering in silence.

Our key findings show:

• 84% said their injury has impacted their body confidence and self-esteem



• 83% said their injury has impacted their sex life



• 74% said their injury has impacted their ability to exercise



• 73% said their injury has impacted their decision to have another baby



• 65% said their injury has impacted the relationship with their partner


How we neglect health problems around birth

Living with the problem without a solution

The incredible impact birth injuries have on people’s daily life, is undoubtedly something that needs more awareness. What’s even more perhaps, is that our results show a huge issue around delayed diagnosis and inadequate treatment.

We feel this illustrates just how much women’s health problems around birth are neglected: 

• Nearly 1 in 5 women (17%)* said they had to wait at least 6 months to a year to receive diagnosis



• Nearly 1 in 4 women (23%) mentioned their injury was diagnosed at different times, indicating possible misdiagnosis, or possibly symptoms being dismissed or not taken seriously (misdiagnosis and not being listened to are themes reflected by our survey)



• 3 in 4 women (73%) said they received treatment for their condition, yet 6 out of 10 women (60%) mentioned treatment has only partially been effective; and 1 in 4 (24%) said they still have a problem



• Only 16% said treatment had been completely effective so 84% are living with the problem without a solution

The stories that were shared with us speak louder than statistics. They show the often hidden and multi-layered pain that comes from birth injuries. Watch our reel from Birth Trauma Awareness Week 2022 about it here.

Free webinar on perineal injury

Our training sponsor Irwin Mitchell offer a free webinar on perineal injury (from their series Maternity Matters), called Breaking the Silence. Watch it below or click the link here.

Are you looking for support?

Our organisation partner MASIC do brilliant work supporting birthing women and people who are affected by Obstetric Anal Sphincter Injuries (OASI). They challenge the stigma and they drive change by being advocates for those injured during birth.

Did you suffer an injury during birth?

MASIC have an extensive library of support resources including lots of information on birth injuries, after care and physiotherapy advice. Take a look through their collection of downloadable guides here. For Birth Trauma Awareness Week 2022 Make Birth Better hosted a Q&A with MASIC. You can read the article we published about it here. It has great guidance around a prolapse diagnosis, what surgery and treatment options you have when you have total perineal deficiency, and lots of information on OASI – such as how to prepare for another birth, treatment options, peer support groups and how to rebuild sexual connection.

Would you like to connect with others?

MASIC have an online support group on Facebook. In a number of areas they offer face-to-face support groups too. Take a look here. Would you like MASIC to support you and guide you to more helpful resources? Get in touch here. 

You are not alone

On the MASIC website there are many stories from people like you. “Telling women’s stories is the most important thing we can do as a charity”, writes the MASIC team. “When women are brave enough to speak out, change happens.”

From our work at Make Birth Better we couldn’t agree more: we know support often means finally being able to understand better what happened, which is often through hearing or reading stories like yours and relating to these stories. Read Rhi’s story, Becka’s story, Geeta’s story and many more here. Know you’re not alone.