I turned 39 on Sunday last, thank you for all the kind wishes! And yesterday just for the craic we put up an old trampoline in the garden. I jumped for a good hour laughing and falling about - pure joy! But for so many women I know, trampolining brings on the fear of weeing themselves a little bit! Know what I mean? So let’s talk pelvic floor muscles ladies! Men have these muscles too of course but women are far more lightly to experience pelvic floor muscle dysfunction than men.

A huge number of women don’t know much about the PF muscles, despite their importance. They are like a sling of muscle that runs from pubic bone to tailbone and from side to side and support organs such as the bladder, intestines, uterus etc through their tonic contraction. They provide resistance to increases in intra pelvic / abdominal pressure during activities such as coughing or lifting heavy objects. They also have an important role to play in urinary and faecal continence – they muscle fibres have sphincter action on the rectum and urethra and they can relax to allow urination and defecation.

It’s estimated that 1 in 3 women in Ireland experience pelvic floor dysfunction. Dysfunctions include urinary or faecal incontinence. Urinary incontinence can be down to an overactive bladder (needing to run to the loo right NOW!) or stress urinary incontinence – often caused by excessive coughing or sneezing, exercise, jumping on a trampoline (!) or heavy lifting.

Check out this 2 min video to see where your PF muscles are https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q0_JAoaM6pU&feature=youtu.be&list=PLdpC0SZfU2Oj72fBJBpvBRHw_92PBYiQb

These issues can be exacerbated by pregnancy, multiple births, instrumental births, straining on the toilet (constipation), chronic coughing, heavy lifting, high impact exercise, age and obesity. In most cases PF muscles get too weak or relaxed, though in some people they can experience hypertonic (too tight) PF muscles and have quite a different set of symptoms.

Incontinence, though very common, is not the norm, so the first port of call is your GP in all cases of PF issues. I also highly recommend a visit to a Pelvic Floor trained Physiotherapist for a pelvic examination. In the UK there’s a wonderful service called the Mummy MOT and in France post childbirth women are given free physical therapy treatments to retrain their pelvic floors.  In Ireland, lots of us don’t even know what our PF muscles are, which makes me sad and a little bit frustrated to be honest! It’s our bodies, we should know about them and realise, it’s nothing to be ashamed of. This is whole topic should not be taboo or anything to be embarrassed about, it’s very common and in many cases treatable.

Studies show that about 30% of PF related incontinence can be improved with the right PF muscle exercises, Physio intervention and /or a balanced diet with lots of fibre to prevent constipation (leading to straining on
the loo). I’m also going to add in this – learn how to lift heavy weights properly! I’ve been lifting weights for over 3 years, I’ve been around gyms for far far long and I never remember anyone telling me to engage my PF muscles when lifting. It should be included in technique for everyone, women in particular.

I’ve been doing a lot of Pilates classes online this last while, I’m loving how precise and practical the cues are. I’ve taken this learning off the mat and have really started to engage my PF when lifting, jumping, exercises and in Yoga poses that require core stability and strength. I find that the weights feel lighter as I have extra support coming from the PF muscles. I also now spend a lot more time explaining how to engage your PF with your core in Yoga classes (have you guys noticed the difference it makes in your poses?)

More traditional Yoga teachings refer to the Mula Bandha or Root Lock as being an energy lock based in the perineum. You can read more about this if you’re curious at: https://yogainternational.com/article/view/a-beginners-guide-to-mula-bandha-root-lock PS. You also need to learn to relax and release PF muscles so don’t go locking your “Mula Bandha” so tight you end up with the opposite issue – all things in balance!

There’s plenty of good pelvic floor muscles exercises online – the best is the Pelvic Elevator ones. It’s at this link https://www.iscp.ie/sites/default/files/Pelvic%20Floor%20Excercise%20Booklet.pdf
and more here https://www2.hse.ie/wellbeing/child-health/pelvic-floor-muscle-exercises/how-to-do-the-exercises.html. It’s no longer recommended to stop peeing “mid-stream” anymore, as this can affect a person’s ability to completely empty their bladder, which could potentially lead to a bladder infection. So same exercises but not during urination!

This link was also an interesting read:  https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20180717-the-pelvic-floor-is-still-a-mystery-in-anatomy

Thanks for reading, now go give your PF muscles a good work out!!!!