Your pelvic floor helps you with stability, continence, and sexual function.svetikd/Getty Images
You train your glutes with squats and your biceps with curls. But if you aren’t also building the muscles of your pelvic floor, you may be shortchanging your overall health and well-being.
The group of muscles, which sit like a bowl at the base of your pelvis, help you with stability, keep you continent, hold up your organs, help pump blood back to your heart, and have a sexual function.
When your pelvic floor is weak, it can’t properly perform any of those tasks. The good news? As with any other muscles in your body, you can strengthen your pelvic floor and learn how to actively engage those muscles, which can provide relief.
“You’ll probably be stronger than you ever were because you’re connecting more deeply with your body,” says Chana Ross, a pelvic-health physiotherapist and the clinic director at Vital Physiotherapy and Wellness in Toronto. Her goal is to help clients learn about their pelvic floor and why it’s so important to overall health, then give them the tools to retrain and strengthen those muscles.
How to Spot Pelvic Floor Disorders
Pelvic floor disorders seem to increase with age as the muscles and connective tissues weaken. Chronic constipation or straining, heavy lifting with poor form, poor core engagement during exercise, chronic coughing which increases intra-abdominal pressure, and prior surgery in the abdominal area are also factors.
Signs of pelvic floor disorders, when the muscles of the pelvic area are weakened or are overactive or unco-ordinated, are similar in individuals of any gender. If you tend to feel an involuntary release of urine, even a small amount, when you run, jump, lift something heavy, cough, sneeze, or even laugh, that can be a sign that you’re not exerting proper control over the muscles of your pelvic floor. Straining or feeling pain while going to the bathroom is also a symptom, as is discomfort during sex.
The pelvic floor muscles are part of your core, working with your abdominals, diaphragm and lower back muscles to help your body balance and stabilize when standing or in motion.Emily Doukogiannis/Supplied
Pain in the pelvic girdle, the sacroiliac joint (where the lower spine and pelvis meet), or the ball-and-socket joint of the hips can all be related to weakness in the pelvic floor and can make tasks as simple as standing up and walking uncomfortable.
Pregnancy and the Pelvic Floor
Discussions of the pelvic floor and pregnancy tend to go hand-in-hand for good reason. During pregnancy those muscles and connective tissues are under tremendous pressure to support the uterus as it grows. During labour they are stretched even further, which can make them weaker and more difficult to engage.
Postpartum individuals may be cleared by their doctors to return to exercise six weeks after birth, but natural tissue healing time can take up to 12 weeks, says Ross. Especially if you had a vaginal birth, engaging in high-intensity exercise too soon is like asking your pelvic floor muscles to “do the work of a well-trained muscle when that muscle is injured,” she explains. “Regardless of what kind of birth you have, it’s going to be the most athletic feat you’re ever going to endure and you do need to rehabilitate from it.”
Building a Stronger Base
Even if you aren’t currently experiencing pelvic floor weakness, preventive exercises can help you maintain control and strength as you age.
Your pelvic floor muscles are part of your core, working with your abdominals, diaphragm and lower back muscles to help your body balance and stabilize when standing or in motion. Learning breathing techniques and muscle engagement can help you maintain control and avoid leaking during workouts.
If you experience any symptoms of pelvic floor weakness, a pelvic floor physiotherapist can help you identify the source of your pain or discomfort and provide exercises to strengthen your muscles. It’s crucial to be intentional about how you move so you’re not building muscle memory around incorrect movement patterns.
When in doubt, let your symptoms be your guide. When it comes to exercise, Ross recommends working to “the absolute amount you can do before bringing on symptoms.” She coaches clients to train within the window of what they’re capable of doing, then extending that window slowly until their symptoms are gone entirely.
For example, if after 20 minutes of running you start leaking, she suggests stopping at 18 minutes to walk, regroup, reconnect to your pelvic floor muscles, and then start again.
Learning about your pelvic floor health can help you learn to better manage movements and bodily functions that can feel out of your control.
“No matter what someone’s issues are or the reasons they’re coming to see us, there’s this deep sense of ‘Why isn’t my body working? There must be something wrong with me,’” Ross says.
“There’s nothing wrong with you,” she adds. “You just need some support.”
Alyssa Ages is a journalist and the author of Secrets of Giants: A Journey to Uncover the True Meaning of Strength. She is also a strongman competitor and endurance athlete, as well as a former personal trainer and group fitness instructor.
