Pelvic floor, myths about exercise and how are you doing?
Test your pelvic floor yourself
The easiest way to see if everything is working as it should is to insert a finger into your vagina and try to contract muscle. You should be able to pull the muscles back (hug) and at the same time suck the finger upwards (perform a lift).
The fact that there is no lift is not at all an isolated phenomenon, but it should be a warning light for you that you need to work on your pelvic floor.
Of course, this examination is only indicative, if you have difficulties, we always recommend a visit to a specialist such as a physiotherapist specializing in the treatment of the pelvic floor or urogynecologist. They will tell you with certainty how you are doing and set up a therapeutic rehabilitation plan tailored to your needs.
Get to know your pelvic floor
Before you start exercising, you need to realize what the pelvic floor looks like, where you have it, whether you perceive it at all. A large number of women do not perceive their pelvic floor, the causes are many, often they are also various psychic superstructures, which we often do not even realize ourselves (sometimes we prefer not even to want to). The pelvic floor is very closely related to emotions. It certainly does not add much to us that the pelvic floor muscles are hidden and we do not see them as easily as, for example, the muscles of the arm.
Feel the tailbone with the finger of one hand and the pubic bone with the finger of the other hand, you will get two points between which the pelvic floor muscles stretch. Close your eyes and imagine them. Place your palm between the above points (in the crotch) and breathe deeply into the lower abdomen. With an inhalation, you should feel that your muscles will push slightly into your palm downwards. This is muscle relaxation.
It is possible that you will not be able to do it much at first and the pelvic floor will be far away. Don’t worry about it and take your time. Try it several times a day in private, until you get better at it and manage to realize the muscles even without controlling your hands, then practice this during the day unlimitedly.
How not to exercise the pelvic floor?
A lot is written about pelvic floor exercise, less talked about, but what is missing the most is practical exercise. Many women have no idea how to activate the pelvic floor or are not quite sure if they are doing it right. Exercise booklets usually don’t give us the right information. Various exercises with lifting the pelvis and squeezing the overball are widespread. In this way, you are more likely to fix a completely false mechanism of contraction, which has nothing to do with the work of your own pelvic floor.
Another problem is intermittent urination. With this exercise, we go against the micturition reflex and there is a risk that the woman will develop another type of incontinence, the so-called urgent, when we feel a sudden urge to urinate. If you run to the toilet and start urinating, you may find that the way you actually wanted dramatically may not correspond to the actual filling of your bladder at all.
Strengthening muscles
We need to strengthen the muscles both in isolation and within a complex muscle connection, which in itself will help to engage the pelvic floor muscles. As mentioned above, the function of the pelvic floor is related to the function of the diaphragm, but also to the function of the hip joints, feet. Through them, we can activate the pelvic floor, but also discard it. Examples of such exercises are given below.
For targeted local involvement of the pelvic muscles, we can best use trainers that are introduced into the vagina. If you properly activate the pelvic floor muscles, the rod at the end of the trainer, serving as your feedback on whether you are exercising correctly, will move downwards. If you relax the muscles, the stick should go up.
Another option is exercise with biofeedback. This device records your muscle activity and uses it to give light or sound signals as you activate or relax your muscles. Thus, the exercise becomes motivational and fun. You have clear values about the time and strength of contraction. It is also possible to connect to a PC, where you can watch various graphs and statistics of how you are improving.
The rehearsed activity of these muscles is best incorporated into normal daily activities.
What if exercise does not help?
Conservative treatment (rehabilitation, exercise, aids) is not all-saving and has its limits. But we should definitely almost always start and end with it. It often happens that patients are operated on directly, e.g. for reasons of prolapse or urinary incontinence, without an attempt at a conservative solution, or at least being aware that such possibilities exist at all. If the difficulties are so great that surgery is necessary, even before it is advisable to exercise so that the muscles have the best possible condition and the procedure then has the best result. But for the effect to be maximum, it is not possible to rely only on the operation. Very often it happens that the trouble returns after some time. Even after surgery, it is advisable to start exercising and keep your muscles in shape.