5 Things You Need To Know About Your Pelvic Floor

 When you’re pregnant or you’ve recently had a baby, you suddenly start hearing A LOT about your pelvic floor. Do your pelvic floor exercises. Remember your pelvic floor. Engage your pelvic floor…

But how much do you actually know about it?

Your pelvic floor plays a pretty important role during pregnancy, birth, postnatal recovery and exercise, and there’s a lot more to looking after it than simply doing a few squeezes every day.

So, here are 5 things I bet you didn’t know about your pelvic floor…

1. Your pelvic floor needs to relax as well as contract

When we talk about looking after our pelvic floor, we tend to focus on making it stronger. And while strength is important, a healthy pelvic floor also needs to be able to fully relax and lengthen.

Think of any other muscle in your body. You wouldn’t keep your bicep permanently contracted and expect it to function brilliantly and your pelvic floor is no different.

Constantly gripping or doing hundreds of pelvic floor squeezes isn’t necessarily better. Ideally, you want your pelvic floor to be able to contract when you need it to, but also relax fully afterwards.

This becomes particularly important during pregnancy, when learning to connect with both the contraction and relaxation of your pelvic floor can help you develop better awareness of those muscles.

2. Your pelvic floor and your breathing are connected

We so often forget about breathing, as it just happens but your breath and your pelvic floor are actually part of the same team.

Your diaphragm and pelvic floor work together as you breathe. As you inhale, your diaphragm moves downwards and your pelvic floor naturally lengthens. As you exhale, they both recoil upwards.

This is one of the reasons we talk so much about breathing during exercise, particularly during pregnancy and postnatally.

Rather than holding your breath through the difficult part of an exercise, try exhaling through the effort. For example, breathe out as you stand up from your squat, push a weight overhead or lift something heavy.

3. Pregnancy affects your pelvic floor, not just giving birth

It’s easy to assume that pelvic floor problems are something you only need to think about after a vaginal birth. But your pelvic floor has already been doing a lot of work throughout your pregnancy.

As your baby grows, the load on your pelvic floor increases. Pregnancy also brings hormonal, postural and physical changes that can affect how your pelvic floor functions.

And that means pelvic floor recovery is important however you give birth,  including if you have a C-section.

So if you had a Caesarean birth, don't assume pelvic floor exercises or pelvic health aren't relevant to you. We all need to work on rebuilding our pelvic floor strength after pregnancy.

4. Leaking is common but that doesn't mean you have to put up with it.

We’ve somehow reached a point where we joke about mums not being able to jump on a trampoline without weeing themselves. I grew up hearing my mum saying it and just assumed that's what happens when you have babies.

And yes, leaking during pregnancy or after having a baby is common. But common doesn't mean it's something you simply have to accept, there is so much we can do about it. 

If you’re leaking when you cough, sneeze, run, jump or exercise, it’s worth paying attention to rather than just avoiding those movements forever.

And importantly, the answer isn't always “do more pelvic floor squeezes!” There can be different reasons why you're experiencing symptoms, which is why getting individual advice from a pelvic health physiotherapist can be so helpful.

Your body has been through a huge amount. It deserves a little support rather than you simply putting up with symptoms because you're a mum now.

5. Your pelvic floor does MUCH more than stop you weeing

When most of us think about our pelvic floor, bladder control is probably the first thing that springs to mind.

But these muscles have a much bigger job than that.

Your pelvic floor helps support your pelvic organs, contributes to bladder and bowel control, plays a role in sexual function and works alongside your deep abdominal and back muscles as part of your wider core system.

So whether you're pregnant, newly postnatal or getting back into exercise after having your baby, your pelvic floor isn't just some random muscle you're supposed to remember to squeeze at the traffic lights.

And perhaps that's the biggest thing to remember is that pelvic floor health isn't just about making these muscles as strong as possible. It's about helping them contract, relax, coordinate and respond to what you're asking your body to do.

If you're experiencing symptoms such as leaking, heaviness or pressure, pain, difficulty emptying your bladder or bowels, or you're simply unsure about your pelvic floor during pregnancy or after birth, speak to your GP, midwife or a pelvic health physiotherapist for individual advice.