The pelvic floor – A beginner guide
Although you can’t see your pelvic floor muscles, they are an important group of muscles that help
to support or hold up parts inside your pelvis.
You could think of them as a hammock or even better a trampoline at the bottom of your belly.
These muscles help support your bladder (where pee is stored), your bowel (where poop is stored)
and in women the uterus. In supporting these parts of the body they help you control when you
pee, poop and ability to hold onto wind.
Sometimes things can go wrong.
If the muscles are not working as they should you can experience problems.
Muscles that are too weak are not going to be able to support the parts I just described and you
might find you leak (pee or poop) when laughing, coughing, lifting heavy things or when you go to
your exercise class. You might experience a feeling of heaviness or feel like things are dropping
down deep in the belly or between your legs.
Muscles that are too tight or that are not able to relax can cause pain in the pelvis, belly and even
the low back can suffer. You might find it is painful when trying to go to the toilet or have sex.
Muscles that we can’t see often get overlooked when we exercise and the pelvic floor is probably
top of the list for how little attention we give it. We all love a legs, bums and tums session or toning
our abdominal muscles. The gym for the pelvic floor is usually empty!
The good news is that pelvic floor problems can usually be helped with guided breathing and
exercise from a specialist exercise coach.
Please speak to me about your concerns and I will either be able to help or be able to send you to
someone who can.
