A Free Guide to Pelvic Floor Health
Many women first become aware and start to think about their pelvic floor muscles when they become pregnant. The pelvic floor muscles are an amazingly supportive muscle sling, that forms the base of your pelvis. They help to support your pelvic organs (bladder, rectum and uterus) and a growing baby whilst pregnant.
Ways to find them-
1. Blow. Sit upright and supported. Inhale through your nose and exhale through pursed lips (as if you are blowing through a thin straw. As you exhale, you may feel these pelvic floor foundations switching on.
2. Feel. You can place a clean finger or 2 inside your vagina. As you exhale, try to tighten around your back passage and the finger. Inhale to relax. Did you feel the muscles tighten around your finger?
3. See. Place you hand lightly over your perineum (the area between the vagina and your anal opening) or look at this area with a mirror. As you exhale, gather, and lift your back passage and vaginal opening. Does the perineum lift gently from your fingers?
If you are still struggling to locate/activate them- you can try a Neen Pelvic Floor Educator, available online. This is a cheap and effective visual feedback device.
Ok, you found them, what do you do with them?
Practice gathering them up as you exhale and relaxing them as you inhale (breath down into your pelvic floor). This will help to keep your pelvic floor co-ordinated. You can do some extra reps of this to build up some strength.
PF relaxation is also essential for normal function and learning how to relax and release your PF muscles can be especially useful prior to vaginal birth. It will also be valuable for postnatal pelvic floor recovery after a vaginal or C section birth.
My tips on how to relax your pelvic floor :
● Deep belly breathing.
● Self- perineal massage/stretching.
● Yoga positions like child pose stretch, a deep relaxed squat, hip stretches, and happy baby are great for this.
Day-to day signs that the pelvic floor isn’t functioning properly are:
● Pain in pelvis/perineum
● Persistent painful sex
● Leaking urine or faeces
● Not fully voiding bladder
● A frequent heavy feeling in your vagina
● A feeling of a bulge inside the vagina
After the early postnatal days have passed, you can take an inventory of your vulva and vagina. This can be quite reassuring before trying sex for the first time too.
Wait for about 6-8 weeks after delivery to do the self-check, when the lochia and any swelling has settled. You can lie propped up with some pillows and use a mirror to look at your vulva, perineum and vagina. Touch the labia and perineum and labia, move them gently, do they hurt? do they pull? Try a pelvic floor contraction during your self-check. If this feels weak- then try some pelvic floor strengthening exercises. If it feels painful or tight, then spend some time breathing deeply and relaxing your pelvic floor so you see the perineum drop and let go a little.
A mummy MOT/postnatal check with a pelvic health physio can be a great way to assess how your pelvic floor is doing after pregnancy, help you with any of the signs mentioned above and get you on the right track for recovery.
You can download a FREE shareable PDF of this and many other resources here and watch Niamh talking about pelvic floor health HERE.
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Niamh is a pelvic health physiotherapist with a special interest in pre and postnatal care. She is skilled in helping women with conditions such as pelvic girdle pain, pelvic floor dysfunction, abdominal diastasis and urogynaecological issues like painful sex, urinary leaks and pelvic organ prolapse. She also has a keen interest in guiding women back to exercise or whatever makes them feel good post pregnancy.
Niamh is a member of the Pelvic Obstetric and Gynaecological Physiotherapists, a Mummy MOT practitioner, a recommended practitioner on the pelvic partnership website and Mum to 3 boys.
Niamh works in Crouch End and at Fix London.
There are more pre and postnatal pelvic health articles available on her website “learn” section.
info@maternityphysio.co.uk