Apr 7, 2022 06:27pm

By Sarah Parker

Under Pelvic floor, Pregnancy , postnatal, exercise, postnatal exercise, caesarean, pregnancy exercise, prolapse, kegels, pelvic organ prolapse, core strength, prenatal, diastasis, back pain, c-section recovery, bladder health, incontinence & return to exercise

5 min read

Pelvic Floor Exercises Mistakes - and how to do it right

Myth #1 - Leaking is inevitable after childbirth, menopause and as you age

Little oops moments…

Triple crossing your legs when you sneeze…

Laughing until the tears run down your legs…

It’s funny, until it isn’t.

Incontinence IS more common after childbirth, menopause and with age

But just because it’s common, that doesn’t mean you have to put up with it!

Pelvic floor muscle training and hypopressives both show great results in preventing leaks, no matter what stage you’re at, whether you've had children or not, and whether you're a woman or a man (yes, men have pelvic floors and yes, they can develop incontinence too)

Myth #2 - it's all about lifting, squeezing, tightening

So pelvic floor muscle training can prevent incontinence.

But what if you’ve tried lifting your pelvic floor and you’ve found no difference?

It could be you’re not doing it right - 50% of women bear down when they think they’re lifting

Or it could be that you’re missing out a vital part of any training programme - the relaxation phase.

If you find it hard to wee when you first sit on the loo, if you have any pelvic pain, if you have a prolapse or if kegels seem to make your symptoms worse, a non-relaxing pelvic floor may be the issue!

So what you may need to focus on more is the relaxation of the pelvic floor, more than the lift

Myth #3 - when you engage pelvic floor, no other muscle should be working

This is my favourite myth to bust! Have you been trying pelvic floor work but think you’re doing it wrong because you can’t isolate your pelvic floor??

Guess what - it doesn’t work in isolation!

There are so many connections of muscle, nerves, fascia inside and outside of the pelvis so it’s no surprise that when you work your pelvic floor other parts of the body are also affected.

And other parts of the body affect your pelvic floor!

I can help you get a better pelvic floor connection by using your feet and by using your voice!!

Myth #4 - the pelvic floor is all about you stopping from wetting yourself

That’s ONE of its jobs - stopping wee coming out when you don’t want it to. And poo. And farts.

It also LETS them come out when you need to - it’s responsible for letting babies out too!!

Other jobs it helps with:

It supports your internal organs.
It is involved in enjoyment of sex
It’s also part of your core - so it also helps with breathing, speaking, digestion, circulation, stability and balance!!

So if you have a bad back, sluggish digestion, weak core muscles - focusing on your pelvic floor could be a great first step for you!

Myth #5 - if you have a pelvic floor dysfunction, you will leak

Leaking is one way of knowing your pelvic floor needs a little attention but it’s not the only symptom.

Symptoms of pelvic floor dysfunction:

wanting to go toilet but nothing much happening when you do go
when you need to go, you REALLY need to go
constipation
pelvic pain
back pain
pressure in the pelvis
a bulge in or outside of your vagina
difficulty getting or keeping a tampon in
painful sex

Again, these are not things you have to just put up with - pelvic floor muscle training can help.

Myth #6 - the pelvic floor is like a hammock, holding everything up

I've already spoken about how the pelvic floor does much more than just hold organs up.

It's also not just a hammock

It's actually made up of lots of different muscles that are laid out in different directions - across the pelvis, from the front to the back of the pelvis, around the sphincters - and in different layers. There's also different types of muscle - slow and fast twitch.

So different exercises can target different parts. That's why I love to do a combination of kegels, exercises that target the pelvic floor and Hypopressives

I can also help you with all of this!

The first step is being able to get that pelvic floor lift right - so you're not bearing down, so that you target different muscles and so that you can relax the pelvic floor too. I can also show you an easy way to check you are doing pelvic floor exercises right!

The next step is having a variety of exercises, so you're reaching all the parts of your pelvic floor

And then it's about building these into your day, so that it's easy to be consistent and get results.

I teach all of this in my online Easy Squeezy workshop - you can find out more in the link below

Easy Squeezy!