Do you suffer (or ever suffered) from urinary incontinence (or leakage), pelvic organ prolapse, painful intercourse, overactive bladder or painful bladder syndrome? Have you ever been diagnosed with 'Pelvic Floor Dysfunctions'?
What are pelvic floor dysfunctions?
Pelvic floor dysfunction is an umbrella term used to describe conditions or symptoms such as the ones listed above.
In this post we will go over 5 contributing factors for pelvic floor dysfunctions. We will also briefly discuss solutions for these factors.
Fortunately, the 5 factors we will discuss today can be worked on. In fact the best pelvic floor therapists will look at these 5 key factors when treating and addressing pelvic floor dysfunctions.
Pelvic floor dysfunctions are usually caused because of an imbalance in our system.
Lets go over these 5 imbalances.
1. Muscle imbalance: Pelvic floor dysfunctions usually result from an imbalance in our muscles where they are either too tight OR too weak and loose. This is not just limited to imbalances in the pelvic floor muscles, the muscles that make up the pelvic floor region. But imbalances in the abdominal, low back and hip muscles contribute to pelvic floor issues. Even muscles in our arches can effect muscles in our pelvic floor.
I find a lot of women only work on kegels to address pelvic floor problems. However, kegels are only addressing one imbalance in our body. Muscular imbalance can be due to imbalances in multiple muscle groups in our body. That is why just working on kegels doesn’t work for most women. We need to look at the body as a whole. We need to look at muscular imbalances in other muscles (including the pelvic floor) but also address other imbalances as we will discuss below. Visit this blog post to learn more about kegels and whether they are safe to do or not.
Solution: Strengthening exercises that work on the weak muscle groups. Stretches and Yoga that work on tight muscles. I recommend you see a therapist or trainer who is well knowledgeable in pelvic floor dysfunctions.
2. Pressure imbalance: Pelvic floor dysfunctions can be due to an imbalance in pressure regulation. It can be internal or external pressures.
An example of internal pressure imbalance is constantly lifting something from the floor with poor posture and poor breathing mechanics where you are either holding your breath or bearing down on your already tired pelvic floor. This is a recipe for pelvic organ prolapse and incontinence.
An example of external pressure is wearing a tight waist cincher for too long. A lot of women are recommended a waist cincher or belt after child birth to help heal diastasis (separation of the abdominal muscles which can cause hernias). However, a waist cincher can create or increase pressure on the pelvic floor causing (or exacerbating) pelvic organ prolapse, incontinence or other pelvic floor dysfunctions.
Solution: Ditch the waist cinchers unless it has been prescribed by a really good pelvic floor therapist. Even then do not wear a cincher for longer than 8 weeks.
Practice deep breathing for 2-5 minutes a day. Co-ordinate your breathing with relaxation of your pelvic floor on the inhale. Do not bear down when lifting or when constipated.
3. Postural imbalance is another contributing factor towards pelvic floor dysfunctions. Actually postural imbalance causes a whole bucket of bodily dysfunctions so it doesn’t come as a surprise that pelvic floor dysfunctions are in that bucket.
Postural imbalance causes ineffective breathing patterns and poor muscle activation and relaxation. With poor posture certain muscle groups turn OFF because they are not in an advantageous position to do their job. As a result wrong muscles are turned ON to compensate for the weak ones. This ties in with the muscle imbalances we just discussed.
Poor posture can also put too much or unnecessary pressure down on to our pelvic floor.
That is why when you come into my office I always start by working on your posture and breathing. Sometimes just fixing posture and breathing can show a huge improvement in pelvic floor dysfunction symptoms.
Solutions: Working on posture has shown to help prevent and manage pelvic floor dysfunctions. I don’t mean just fixing your upper body posture. Yes you want to prevent slouching and forward head posture. But you also want to look at pelvis, spinal curves, hips, knees and foot!
4. Lack of awareness is another important (yet ignored) contributing factor for pelvic floor dysfunctions. This includes awareness of your pelvic floor region and awareness of what your pelvic floor is doing at any given time.
A lot of women with tightness are unable to relax their pelvic floor. In fact many women are unable to tell if they have a tight or loose pelvic floor. They can not tell the difference between relaxation of the pelvic floor vs. bearing down on the pelvic floor. This becomes tricky when learning or relearning how to relax or activate (kegels) the muscles in the pelvic floor. But once a woman finds a way to connect with her body and her pelvic floor, this task becomes easy.
I find stress and anxiety are huge barriers for women when working on mindfulness and awareness. Reducing stress and finding ways to help the mind and body to relax can help achieve mindfulness and awareness.
Solution: Mindfulness, yoga, meditation and essential oils really help regain awareness, reduce stress and anxiety and help promote relaxation.
5. Finally hormonal imbalance is a huge component that contributes to pelvic floor dysfunctions. This includes imbalances in estrogen and progesterone. Increased cortisol levels also has devastating effects on our pelvic floor and our whole body. The food, the environment and even our clothes can effect our hormonal balance. Stay tuned for a whole blog post on this topic.
Solution: I always recommend a good naturopath who specializes in female health. Essential oils are also a great starting point. Some wonderful essential oils are Geranium, Ylang Ylang, Lavender and Clary Sage. These oils help ground us from stress and anxiety, help support hormonal function and promote relaxation.
Other factors that contribute to pelvic floor dysfunctions
Now there are other contributing factors as well such as genetics, multiple pregnancies, child birth trauma, BMI, surgeries etc. Most of these are usually out of our control.
However, today we looked at 5 contributing factors that we can control. We can work on these 5 imbalances using at home techniques like yoga, breathing exercises, mindfulnes, essential oils etc. A trip to a really good pelvic floor therapist is also beneficial especially to address those muscular imbalances.
So let’s review the five contributing factors for pelvic floor dysfunctions that we can work on:
Muscle imbalance
Pressure imbalance (internal and external)
Postural imbalance
Lack of awareness
Hormonal imbalance
The reason why doing just kegels all day doesn’t work is because pelvic floor dysfunctions are much more complex than just kegels. To Kegel or Not to Kegel? Read this blog post to answer this dilemm We need to address pelvic floor dysfunctions by looking at other dysfunctions in our body. Dysfunctional breathing, dysfunctional posture, hormonal dysfunction and muscular dysfunction can all contribute towards pelvic floor dysfunctions. You can have two or more of these dysfunctions playing at the same time. Rarely do you have only one showing up.
In conclusion, most pelvic floor dysfunctions are treatable and preventable. Start practicing mindfulness and implementing self care regimen using essential oils and exercises to help kick start your pelvic health journey. Because no one wants their future self making that trip down the Poise aisle.
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