If you’ve ever wondered what all the excitement is about the pelvic floor, allow me to explain.
What is the Pelvic Floor (PF)?
The PF is a group of muscles that makes up the actual “floor” of your body. It is made up of 8 main muscles which connect your tailbone to your pubic bone, and both butt bones together. They form a ‘bowl’ shape at the bottom of your pelvis. Both males and females have a group of PF muscles with a very similar shape.
What does the PF do for our body?
SO many things!! The PF is such an important part of our body!
SUPPORT - It keeps important organs (including uterus, bladder, prostate, large and small intestines, etc.) from falling out of our bodies
BOWEL AND BLADDER - the muscles relax to go #1 or #2 and contracts to hold in #1 or #2
BIRTHING - the PF stretches up to 300x it’s typical length to allow a baby to travel through during delivery; and then recovers back to typical length within a year postpartum!
STABILITY - these muscles team up with hip and core muscles to hold the pelvic bones together (working harder than ever during pregnancy)
BALANCE - the PF helps you maintain your balance to keep from falling
SEX - the muscles relax during intercourse for sexual function and contract after orgasm for sexual pleasure
How do we keep it healthy?
At their healthiest, our PF muscles are strong, yet flexible. Hitting goals of 2 days per week lifting weights and 3-5 days of cardio exercise (walking, swimming, biking, dancing, etc.) will help maintain a strong and flexible PF.
How do I know if my PF is healthy (AKA strong and flexible)?
If you don’t seem to have any difficulty with bowel, bladder, or sexual function
– AND –
If you don’t typically feel pain in your hips, low back, or pelvis…
then odds are your PF is killing it!
If you do experience any difficulty or pain listed above, then it’s important to make an appointment with your local pelvic floor physical therapist to have a thorough assessment performed.
In the meantime…
We have created some simple instructions to help you check your own PF for both flexibility and strength. Click here to access our self-assessment tools.
**It is important to keep regular check ups with your gynecologist, pelvic floor physical therapist, urologist, GI doctor, and/or OBGYN if you have a history of PF issues or conditions. The average PF patient goes 7 years before being properly diagnosed and treated. Regular check ups are the best way to make sure your symptoms don’t get missed!
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