You may have heard or been told about how important it is to do pelvic floor exercises during pregnancy and after having a baby. However, many pregnant women and mums do not know what their pelvic floor is, how to keep the muscles strong, or why it is so important.
What is the pelvic floor?
The pelvic floor is an essential group of muscles that act like a muscular hammock between your legs that connects from your pubic bone at the front underneath to your coccyx at the bottom of your spine, forming the floor of your pelvis.
Women have three openings (urethra, vagina and back passage) and some of the muscle fibres wrap around the openings (sphincters), which helps with opening and closing as required. Some of the muscles lift and support the organs from above (bladder, uterus and rectum). They all work together as part of the stability system that forms your core making these unseen muscles an important piece of kit!
5 Main functions of the pelvic floor
- Support: Keeping the organs above in place
- Sphincter: Stops things coming out until you would like them to
- Sex: Penetration, sensation and orgasm
- Stability: Core stability
- Sump Pump: Aiding flow of blood and prevent lymphatic congestion
Why do pelvic floor exercises?
During pregnancy the muscles work extra hard supporting the growing uterus above. In addition during vaginal delivery they are stretched and will need time and a little bit of help to recover well and work without dysfunction.
It’s important to remember, even if you are planning a C-section and don’t have a vaginal birth, you should do pelvic floor exercises during pregnancy and postnatally as it will aid your recovery process and help prevent or minimise stress incontinence, which is when you leak urine when laughing, coughing, sneezing or exercising.
By doing these exercises throughout your pregnancy and as soon as you can postnatally, you will be keeping your muscles strong as your little one/s grows, reducing the risk of stress incontinence and helping the muscles recover after birth, enabling you to continue with day-to-day activities and restart exercise with confidence.
When to start?
It is never too early or too late to start exercising your pelvic floor muscles. So regardless of if you have just found out you are pregnant, or are due soon regular exercises will help.
New mum? Get started as soon as you feel ready. Pelvic floor exercises are vital in the early postnatal period, especially as you start to get more active.
Give it a go
Try squeezing your back passage and lifting gently inside, relax and release.
Make It a gentle and smooth movement of the genital area (like you are stopping wind). Try to avoid using your tummy muscles too much or holding your breath and don’t clench your glutes!
Imagine picking up a blueberry with your back passage, don’t squash it, place it down and let it go.
Can you do this up to 10 times?
Can you hold it for several seconds and without holding your breath?
Tips for remembering to do pelvic floor exercises
Pelvic floor exercises aren’t the most exciting or most glamours thing in the world. Finding a trigger, something you do in your day-to-day life, can help you remember to do the exercises. Even 30 seconds a day can make a difference.
Triggers
Find something or somewhere that reminds you to do your exercises; common examples of times/places when mums or mums to be do their pelvic floor exercises:
- At traffic lights; when at a red light
- On the bus or train
- After going to the toilet (remember not to do it ‘mid flow’ as this can lead to water infections)
- Whilst doing daily chores e.g. cooking, cleaning, making a cup of tea etc.
- In the shower
- While cleaning teeth
- When feeding baby
- While settling baby to sleep
Find out more about pelvic floor exercises
Pelvic floor exercises are covered in both our Pregnancy and Mother & Baby exercise and lifestyle courses.
Downloading an app can also be helpful. It will send you automated reminders and provide further information about why it is important to keep your pelvic floor strong.
Squeezy is the NHS approved app and is available for the app store and on google play. There is a cost to download squeezy but there are other FREE apps available.
Finding it difficult?
Struggling with your pelvic floor? If you are leaking, unable to control wind, feeling heavy and uncomfortable or experiencing pain speak to a health care professional. You can seek help and guidance through your midwife, GP or a specialist physiotherapist.