I need to squeeze my what!?

One of the most common things women tell me is that after they had their baby(ies) they were told to do their pelvic floor exercises and off they went. But no one actually told them how to do them, or where the pelvic floor even really is. I often get asked "I don't know if I'm doing them right, can you check?" to which the answer is yes, of course!

It firstly helps to know though where the pelvic floor is and what it is. To keep things simple, the pelvic floor is actually made up of a number of muscles which all overlap and connect through a wonderful substance called fascia (we'll cover that in another post). Together, these muscles form a bowl shape which covers the base of the pelvis, from your tailbone at the back (your coccyx) to your pubic bone at the front, and side to side from the pelvic bones. It has three very important gaps in it to allow for the back passage (anus), the vagina, and the urethra (where your wee comes out). Now, I have purposefully listed them in that order, because to do a text book Pelvic Floor Squeeze or Kegel, you need to try to close the anus first, then the vagina, then the urethra, so you're zipping them closed from back to front. I often tell women to imagine they are standing in a crowded lift and need to pass wind and go for a wee at the same time, so try to squeeze to stop this happening. 9/10 times it usually increases the squeeze, but with all that concentrating don't forget to breathe. Ideally breathe out as you try to lift your pelvic floor, and breathe in as you relax.

Now, although regular Pelvic Floor Squeezes or Kegels are important, they are not the only type of pelvic floor exercise and are more the building blocks of lots of other more interesting pelvic floor exercises. More often than not, simple Pelvic Floor Squeezes don't necessarily carry over into improving our symptoms during the activities that we want to do. That's why it is important to seek specialist guidance from a Pelvic Health Physiotherapist if you are suffering with symptoms of Pelvic Floor Dysfunction so they can give you tailored exercises to get you back to doing all the things you want to do, without having to worry about toilets or prolapse.