The Why and How of Building a Strong Pelvic Floor
Wait, pelvic what? Yup, that body part that wasn’t in your middle school sex ed class.
We love the pelvic floor. It’s a critical core muscle that helps us in so many ways - that no one ever told us about.
According to Johns Hopkins, the pelvis is a structure involved in supporting our organs and spinal cord. Men’s and women’s pelvis’ differ in depth, shape, and angle and a women’s has to support her reproductive organs in addition to other organs.
The pelvic floor supports your bladder, bowels, uterus, and vagina. It is a sheet of muscles that support all those organs and does critical jobs like controlling bladder and bowel function, and is needed during childbirth. And the muscles are also critical in having healthy, enjoyable sex.
If you enjoy running, the pelvic floor is part of your deep core which supports your stability and balance when running (and is key to preventing injuries).
Really important functions, if you ask us.
Here endeth the anatomy lesson, such as it was. So why is this important?
Four words - Pelvic Floor Muscle Weakness. When pelvic floor muscles are weakened you may be more likely to experience urinary leakage, constipation, and at its most serious a uterine prolapse (where the uterus can slip into the vagina).
This commonly impacts women after pregnancy but it has other causes including:
Being overweight
As a side effect of IBS and other bowel conditions
Changes in hormones in menopause
Women are encouraged to do exercises to strengthen their floor but don’t often receive that advice other than during pregnancy or until an issue arises.
This isn’t talked about much except maybe in the line for the women’s room. We need more people like Kim Holderness to share their stories about starting pelvic floor therapy.
Pelvic floor therapy is a form of physical therapy devoted to strengthening these muscles and relieving the side effects of a weakened pelvic floor. It starts with finding a therapist trained specifically for pelvic floor rehab and a very thorough exam to determine how well you can contract and release these muscles. That evaluation leads to an individualized treatment plan.
Great - so how do I go about making it stronger if I don’t need pelvic floor therapy?
Kegel exercises are one common recommendation and one we’re pretty familiar with, but just doing kegels may not be enough for overall strength. There are other exercises you can work into your regular routine that will benefit your deep core and pelvic floor.
Because the pelvic floor works in conjunction with several other core muscles, pilates is another popular recommendation, as it has a more holistic core focus which helps your pelvic floor muscles and the surrounding muscles.
Well + Good has a 15-minute pilates routine specifically focused on pelvic floor strengthening, and most of the sources above include some recommended movements.
If you want to start incorporating more pilates or pelvic floor exercises into your typical routine, the recommendation is generally about 2-3 times per week.