Your pelvic floor muscles play a vital role in your overall health, supporting your bladder, uterus, and bowel. They help prevent incontinence, prolapse, and are essential for sexual function. Despite their importance, pelvic floor health is often overlooked—let’s change that!
What Can Affect the Pelvic Floor?
Pelvic floor muscles can be weakened by:
- Pregnancy and childbirth
- Obesity
- Chronic constipation
- Prostate cancer treatment
- Persistent coughing or heavy lifting
Problems aren’t limited to weakness. Overactive or tense pelvic floor muscles can cause pain during sex, urination, or bowel movements and may affect men and women alike, regardless of childbirth history.
Why Is Pelvic Floor Health Important?
Your pelvic floor acts like a supportive hammock for your pelvic organs, ensuring:
- Continence for bladder and bowel
- Spinal and organ support
- Enhanced sexual function
Weak or overactive muscles can lead to:
- Urge or stress incontinence
- A feeling of heaviness or pelvic organ prolapse
- Pain with urination, bowel movements, or sex
What Can You Do?
Pelvic floor exercises are your best ally. To engage your pelvic floor muscles:
- Imagine stopping the flow of urine midstream.
- Squeeze and lift the muscles around your pelvis without tensing your abdomen or arching your back.
Avoid exercises like sit-ups that push down on the pelvic floor or cause your stomach to bulge. A physiotherapist can create a tailored strengthening program, typically lasting 6–12 weeks, which has an 80% success rate.
Pelvic floor health isn’t just a “women’s issue.” Men recovering from prostate surgery or with chronic pelvic pain can also benefit from targeted exercises.
Let’s Break the Taboo
In New Zealand, one in three mums experiences pelvic floor issues—but it doesn’t have to stay that way. Seeking help isn’t embarrassing; it’s empowering. A healthier pelvic floor is within reach, and a qualified physiotherapist can guide you there.
If you’re experiencing any issues, book an appointment today. Let’s sort it out together.