Have you recently had a baby? Or are you currently pregnant? Then it’s highly likely that you would have heard of or been told to do your pelvic floor exercises. And in short, yes, they are really important!
Your pelvic floor are a group of muscles called your Levator Ani, that form a muscular sling that runs from your pubic bone, to your sacrum and coccyx. They provide support to your pelvic organs, aid in maintaining continence and have a role to play in sexual function too. When your pelvic floor isn’t working properly, you can experience symptoms of leaking when you cough and sneeze, known as Stress Incontinence, you can have trouble holding on when you are on your way to the toilet/ have sudden strong urges to pass water, known as Urge Incontinence or have a feeling of heaviness or dragging in your vaginal region which can be a symptom of a prolapse. In most cases, these symptoms can be resolved or improved by doing your pelvic floor exercises.
There are other factors that can make you more at risk of pelvic floor dysfunction which includes,
- Pregnancy
- Vaginal deliveries, including assisted deliveries ie. forceps/ suction
- Long second stage of labour
- Induction
- Epidurals
- Delivery of a baby >4kgs
- Chronic constipation
- Chronic Coughing
- Repetitive heavy lifting/ manual labour
- Obesity
- Family history of pelvic floor dysfunction
It is important to also acknowledge that both men and women can experience pelvic floor dysfunction.
So, how do you do them and how do you know if you’re doing them correctly?
When you do a pelvic floor exercise, you should feel a squeeze around your back passage and a lifting up inside. You may also feel your lower abdominal muscles tightening too which is ok. You should then aim to hold this for as long and as strong as you can up to around 10seconds. Aim to repeat this long hold 8-12 times in a row, 3 x a day. Some other ways to see if you are doing one correctly;
- As if you wanted to stop yourself passing wind in public
- Stopping midstream when passing water
- Imagine you are sitting on a silk scarf and you are drawing it up inside you
Importantly, you shouldn’t hold your breath when doing these exercises as they need to learn to work independently of your breathing because we need them to work all the time without the cue of a breath hold.
Once you have mastered the long hold, you need to strengthen the faster action of the muscle. This time, you want to tighten your pelvic floor/ lift up and on as quickly as you can, then immediately let go. Repeat this 10 times in a row, twice. Aim to do this 3 x a day.
By doing these two different types of exercises; the long and strong holds, and the quick on/off; you are strengthening all the aspects of the muscle’s function which should help prevent leaking and the likelihood of prolapse.
Of course, if you are at all concerned about whether you are doing these exercises correctly, then you should seek professional help. Brooke, our Practice Director, is a Continence and Pelvic Floor Physiotherapist so ensure you get in touch with the clinic to make an appointment with her. In most cases, with the right advice and expertise, you can have symptoms resolution in no time.