Problems with the pelvic floor are too embarassing for words. Having suffered from them myself, I do know what I’m talking about! The sudden extreme urgency to go Right Now. The dreaded wee escape. Oh help, I’m about to sneeze….
And we beat ourselves up for being weak of floor.
In fact we can suffer stress incontinence or urge incontinence – two different things with different causes.
Whilst the pelvic floor may be weak following a heavy pregnancy or an abdominal operation, it may also be overtight. Either is not good. Neither is fun.
A weak pelvic floor from an operation or pregnancy does indeed need re activation. However, a tight pelvic floor is also common but less expected and that I what I’m going to talk about now.
The study I quote from found that females who did a lot of high impact sports – running, netball, basketball, squash, tennis, gymnastics had much stronger pelvic floor muscles than their non exercising counterparts did. Incidentally, nulliparous means having never given birth.
Several authors have suggested that high impact (landing) sport may lead to the development of stress incontinence in nulliparous women who have competed for prolonged periods, suggesting that there may be a functional change in the pelvic floor muscles of highly athletic women. Additionally there is preliminary evidence to suggest that some women undergoing high-impact, frequent intense training (HIFIT) have unexpected difficulties during delivery, which may be attributable to changes in pelvic floor muscles. ((Pelvic floor function in elite nulliparous athletes. Kruger J A; Dietz H P; Murphy B A. Ultrasound in obsteptrics and gynecology. Vol 30, issue 1, July 2007 pp 81-85 The article is free.))
Therefore pelvic floor problems do not necessarily mean sagginess. And men can suffer from pelvic floor problems too.
Last June I did the Z health course on breathing – called Stamina. And in it Doctor Cobb went over pelvic floor work, pointing out that this is usually over complicated and ineffective. We then did a very simple exercise to sort out dodgy pelvic floors. I realise I can add this exercise in during the relaxation in Body Balance. After all, having confidence in our pelvic floor is very relaxing.
He also pointed out that sometimes the pelvic floor has not been working properly for many years, and so the signal to it from the brain is non-existant. Using the wonders of neurology, that signal can be rebuilt so even Grandma can leap about with gay abandon.
Finally the pelvic floor works together with the breathing diaphragm. When one contracts, the other relaxes in a push pull way. Sort the breathing out, sort out the pelvic floor and coughing, shopping and hopping will be magnificent.
The ultimate is to come to me for one to one training. Otherwise I now take Body Balance in the beautiful Manuden Village Hall on Monday 9.15am, Tuesday 1.30pm and Thursday 6.45pm. I’d love to see you there.
