Your pelvic floor muscles are the layer of muscles that support the pelvic organs: bladder, bowel and uterus. These muscles stretch from your tailbone to the pubic bone (front and back) and from sitting bone to sitting bone (side to side) so they are a big layer of muscle that support the organs that lie on them. The pelvic floor muscles also work with your abdominal and back muscles to stabilise your spine so they are very important in both continence and core control.
When the baby moves down the birth canal, the birth canal is stretched, and the pelvic floor muscles are also stretched at this time. This may leave these muscles weak and not able to keep the bladder and bowel from leaking.
It is important to learn to perform pelvic floor exercises properly in order to strengthen the correct muscles rather than using others to compensate.
As with any exercise, your specific pelvic floor exercise prescription can be very personalised. It is likely that if you have had a baby you will need to go through a pelvic floor rehabilitation period, but what you should do and how you should do it is difficult to generalize. Learning how to properly contract your pelvic floor is the first step, and any pelvic floor weakness you are experiencing will not just 'fix itself'.
Telltale signs of a weak pelvic floor may include: leaking of urine or faeces, having to get to the toilet quickly (urge incontinence), dragging, heaviness or a vaginal bulge, lack of sexual sensation and orgasm.
If you feel you have a pelvic floor weakness, certain exercises and situations are worth avoiding. Running, jumping and jogging should be taken out of your routine for the time being. Certain squatting exercises, heavy lifting and anything you do that makes you feel like you are 'bearing down' should be kept to a minimum until you have sought help and advice from a health professional.
A general rule I like to abide by when exercising is asking 'Can I contract my pelvic floor during this exercise and can I release?' If you can feel a difference between contracting and releasing then you are likely to be fine to continue. If you feel no difference again you probably want to pull back a little until you have retrained your pelvic floor further and it can 'keep up with you'.
Every woman is different and if you have any uncertainty at all or are unsure of what you are doing it is important that you speak to a healthcare professional.
I can't stress enough that you should NOT suffer in silence - although a pelvic floor weakness will not suddenly just fix itself, there are things that we can do to combat any issues you may be having. Be sure to enlist the help of a women’s health physio to help you get on track and if you are in the Sydney area you could always come along to our next Pelvic Floor and Core workshop on the 5th of September. Check my website for more details.