Why is postpartum recovery so expensive?

In fact, the "expensiveness" of postpartum recovery has never been due to the ridiculously high cost. The essence is the scarcity premium of professional services, the price increase caused by the information gap caused by non-standard industry standards, and the added value of the emotional needs of the mother-to-be group. It is true that not all projects are worthy of the price.

I have been working as an obstetrician for almost 6 years, and I have seen too many mothers who have just given birth to hold their babies to inquire about prices. When they heard that the package price was tens of thousands, they subconsciously clutched the medical insurance card in their bag. Last week, I met a 1997-year-old mother. After her confinement, she went to the maternal and infant department for a 42-day postpartum evaluation. She found that her rectus abdominis was separated by 2 fingers and her pelvic floor muscle strength was level 3. The doctor said that she could slowly recover after practicing Kegels and abdominal breathing for 3 months at home. She could also receive up to 10 outpatient electrical stimulation sessions. The cost of her medical insurance was only over 2,000 yuan. As a result, she went to the Internet celebrity health care store downstairs, where the salesperson told her for two hours that "without pelvic closure, my hips would become wider, my urine would leak, and my husband would hate it." She paid a deposit of 32,000 yuan for the full package on the spot. When she came back to us for a free evaluation, she cried and said that her half-month salary was only 8,000 yuan, which cost her half a year's savings.

To be honest, if you encounter a formal maternity and health care institution, the high fees are really not arbitrary prices. The rehabilitation therapists in our store must at least pass the rehabilitation therapist certificate issued by the National Health Commission, study obstetrics and gynecology anatomy and postpartum pathology for half a year, and complete 300 practical cases with senior teachers before they can take on clients alone. Take the equipment for pelvic floor muscle repair as an example. We bought imported equipment, which cost more than 80,000 yuan per unit. The electrode pads for secondary use are all disposable medical consumables. In addition to store rent and labor costs for one-on-one services, you really can’t make much money by charging more than 300 for a single charge. For customers with severe pubic symphysis separation, one operation takes an hour and a half, and they are so tired that they can’t straighten their waists. Charging 600 is really worth it.

But you said that many mothers think maternity care is a "money grab", and I completely understand that. Nowadays, the threshold of this industry is too low. Many people who used to open beauty salons to do massages signed up for a seven-day crash course and got the "Advanced Obstetrics and Health Care Practitioner Certificate" issued by someone who knows where. Even if the diastasis of the rectus abdominis is 1.5 fingers, they dare to fool you, "If it develops further, it will lead to visceral ptosis, and it will take 15 manipulations to recover." In fact, the diastasis of the rectus abdominis within 2 fingers does not require additional manual intervention at all. You can return to the pre-pregnancy state by doing core training at home for half a year. There is also the amazing "manual pelvic closure" that can hold you for more than 2,000 yuan at a time. To put it bluntly, it presses and relaxes your muscles. The expansion of the pelvis after giving birth is physiological. It will reset itself 3 to 6 months after delivery, and there is no need to "push it back" with your hands. If you encounter someone with strong hands and press it for you, it will cause soft tissue damage, which is not worth the gain.

Last month, a mother came to me for repair. She said that she had spent more than 50,000 yuan to get a complete set at another place. After almost two months of treatment, the leakage of urine did not improve at all. I evaluated her and found out that she had a severe pelvic floor muscle injury and was not suitable for that treatment at all. For ordinary repair methods, she had to go to the hospital for treatment first, and the regular programs of the institution were of no use at all. Finally, I recommended her to a gynecological rehabilitation department in the top three hospitals. She spent less than 5,000 and she was almost cured. She also specially gave me a basket of home-grown strawberries.

If you ask me whether postpartum recovery will cost so much, I can't give you an accurate estimate. In one sentence, go to a public hospital for a serious 42-day postpartum evaluation. The doctor will explain clearly to you what projects are required. Don't just listen to the agency sales. Don't save the money you should spend, such as the money for severe pelvic floor muscle repair. IQ tax is unnecessary, and you will lose every dollar you spend.