Improving Pelvic Floor Function With Exercise

The pelvic floor gets a lot of attention on the perinatal stage. But what is the pelvic floor and how can you strengthen it?

The pelvic floor is a group of muscles that act as the foundation of your trunk and help support your core and internal structures. Just as the bicep muscle, for example, can contract and relax, so too can the pelvic floor. And just like a bicep, the pelvic floor can strengthen with targeted movement and exercises. 

Although most muscles often function without us giving them much thought, we can improve function by focusing with specific movements to strengthen these muscles. For example, our biceps perform daily tasks almost automatically–lifting groceries, opening car doors, picking up our kids, etc. The pelvic floor is much the same. It performs many day to day functions without us really ever noticing. However, we can consciously target these muscles, and improve pelvic health and performance in much the same way we would improve movement and strength in the gym. 

A strong pelvic floor is a coordinated pelvic floor. It lifts towards the head when contracted and lowers toward the feet when relaxed. It tightens and relaxes to provide appropriate support for the task at hand. For example, it relaxes when you use the bathroom and contracts when you jump. If the pelvic floor loses coordination, it may become too contracted causing fluids to push from the body at undesired times. On the contrary, it can become too relaxed, lacking the tension to hold urine in. Other common symptoms may be a sense of pressure or heaviness in the vagina, difficulty holding in gas or pain. These can be especially noticeable during high impact tasks like jumping, or with a common occurrence such as sneezing.

Good news, though! We can do something about this! Physical therapy focused on your pelvic floor starts with exercises to activate and relax the muscles. We perform repetitions at varying speeds and for varying duration in order to prepare the muscle for many real life scenarios. This is then followed up with full body strength training where we use the concept of progressive overload to gradually add more challenge that is appropriate and achievable. With just a bit of extra attention paid to your pelvic floor, it will soon be stronger and better coordinated so you can then forget about this group muscles all together!

Schedule a free consult to learn more about how you can best support your pelvic floor.