Everything you need to know to strengthen your pelvic floo

The ‘pelvic floor’ is not a topic you discuss at the dinner table. It’s only during pregnancy or postpartum that woemn discover their pelvic floor.

However, like any other muscle in the body, it is important to take care of it. It needs to be maintained, especially to maintain its tone so that it continues to fulfill its physiological role.

Regularly exercising your pelvic floor is essential, and this, at any age of a woman’s life!

I want to strengthen my pelvic floor

When the pelvic floor is not regularly exercised, the pelvic muscles tend to relax. If they become too relaxed, this can lead to discomforts such as urinary leaks, or more serious problems like incontinence.

If the pelvic floor is too relaxed, some women may even develop  pelvic organ prolapse. In the most severe cases of prolapse, one or more organs literally come out through the vulva and end up outside the body.

Contrary to popular belief, the risk of incontinence, whether urinary or fecal, can affect any woman at any age.

The most common type of incontinence in the female population is stress urinary incontinence. Leaks occur during a physical effort, for example during:

• Coughing or sneezing
• Physical activity or exercise
• Picking up something heavy

Continuing pelvic floor rehabilitation throughout one’s life is important. This helps maintain a toned pelvic floor to prevent and limit the risk of urinary leaks.

trengthening your pelvic floor is also important to thrive in your sexuality and intimate relationships. Indeed, a stronger pelvic floor allows :

• Better sensations during intercourse for both partners
• To have more intense and more frequent orgasms
• Improve the natural lubrufication of your pelvic floor.

The pelvic floor plays an essential role in sexual life. Many women have noticed an improvement in their sexual intercourse when the pelvic flooris stronger. A toned pelvic floor enhances clitoral stimulation and therefore, allows for better sensations.

Moreover, with more intense vaginal contractions, the vagina is tighter, which means an improvement in sensations both for you and your partner!

The pelvic floor is heavilyimpacted  during pregnancy and especially during childbirth. It is often at this moment that women become aware of their pelvic floor for the first time.

During the 9 months of pregnancy, the pelvic floor muscles have to support the weight of the baby and the intense strains related to its passage during a vaginal delivery.

Subsequently, some women experience discomfort symptoms, which can manifest as some urinary leaks, a feeling of heaviness, or even a lack of sensations during intimate relationships.

These symptoms are due to pelvic floor relaxation. Strengthening your pelvic floor then becomes essential to regain its initial tone. Even after a cesarean section, strengthening your pelvic floor is important because the baby’s weight may have damaged the pelvic floor muscles.

The stop-and-start urination technique has long been recommended to strengthen the pelvic floor, it is now completely discouraged. It disrupts the neurological functioning of the bladder.

You can use the stop-and-start urination technique but sparingly, to help you locate your pelvic floor and learn to contract it correctly. It is absolutely not recommended to regularly practice the stop-and-start urination technique as it affects the closure reflex of the sphincters.

To properly contract your pelvic floor, you should have the sensation of “holding back a stream of urine”. This should be done without squeezing your buttocks or contracting your thighs.

Be careful, if you push, you are not contracting your pelvic floor correctly. When you go to the toilet, you should not rush and not contract the pelvic floor but instead relax it.

The ideal is to learn to contract your pelvic floorwith a healthcare professional such as a physical therapist, midwife, or gynecologist. They can ensure that the perineal contraction is correct and that no other muscle is engaged.

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To train your pelvic floor at home, you just need to repeat the exercises you learned from the physical therapist or  midwife, by doing exercises yourself, contracting and relaxing your pelvic floor.

To strengthen your pelvic floor, you can also use a ball. Lie on your back, knees bent, and place a ball between your knees. The exercise involves squeezing the ball with your knees. Exhale when you squeeze your knees and contract your pelvic floor at that moment. Also remember to contract your abdominal muscles.