Avoiding the bouncy castle at a kid’s party has become a bit of a joke between women, but this brave-faced banter disguises the debilitating impact that incontinence has on everyday life for many women.
Leaking urine when you jump, run, laugh or cough is known as stress incontinence and is a sign that your pelvic floor isn’t functioning properly.
According to the NHS, 1 in 3 of women will suffer from incontinence during our lifetime. Although in reality this figure may be far higher as it’s based upon the number of women who actually seek help and many of us don’t.
In this blog, I’m going to talk about the pelvic floor, postnatal care and give you a few suggestions about what you can do to take care of this part of your beautiful body, which are suitable for everyone whether you've recently had a baby or not.
YOUR PELVIC FLOOR
The pelvic floor is the group of muscles, ligaments and connective tissue that spans the bottom of your pelvis and holds all the pelvic organs — including your bladder, vagina, cervix, uterus, urethra and rectum — in place, like a sling or a hammock. As well as supporting your organs, your pelvic floor also works with your hip muscles to stabilise your body and to control things going in and out of your body (like pee, poo and babies).
Pregnancy and childbirth put the pelvic floor under strain and rebuilding strength, tone and awareness in this area is a vital part of your recovery, even if you’ve had a Caesarean section.
If your pelvic floor isn’t functioning properly, you may experience loss of bladder or bowel control, pain or discomfort in your pelvic region or below, find sex painful or uncomfortable, or suffer from pelvic organ prolapse.
Many women suffer in silence because they’re too embarrassed to seek help or because the condition has become so normalised that it’s seen as an inevitable part of motherhood or the ageing process. But although pelvic disfunction is common after pregnancy, birth or the menopause, it is NOT normal and is a sign that your pelvic floor needs some attention.
POSTNATAL CARE
In the UK, new mothers are offered a 6 week check up where a GP asks a few basic questions and gives your stomach a cursory glance to check your uterus has shrunk. Mention this to any of your French friends and they’ll shake their heads in horror.
In France, every new mother is prescribed at least 10 free sessions of pelvic floor treatment with a specially trained therapist or midwife, who performs an internal massage to check for any tension or scar tissue and tests muscle contractions. After that, new mothers can have at least 10 sessions of abdominal rehabilitation to regain core strength, all tax-funded.
So aside from writing to your MP and demanding women’s health is taken more seriously in the UK, what can you do about pelvic floor disfunction?
Don't ignore it - in most cases, it is entirely treatable
Well, here’s the good news, although pelvic floor disfunction can be really embarrassing, worrying and disempowering, it can be managed, treated and often completely fixed, with the right help and support. So as easy it is to stick your head in the sand and hope it will go away on its own, please don’t ignore it - you deserve to feel confident in your body and to lead a fun-filled, active life with as much twerking and trampolining as you like.
3 WAYS TO LOOK AFTER YOUR PELVIC FLOOR
1 Breathe better
The first step to taking care of your pelvic floor is connecting to this part of your anatomy and familiarising yourself with the way it moves and functions. Diaphragmatic breathing (sometimes referred to as belly breathing) is one of the best ways to do this. It’s gentle and safe to do and gives you a lot of information about your body, your pelvic floor and the way that you hold tension.
Follow these simple steps to breathe using your diaphragm
Lie on your back with your knees bent, feet hip-width apart and flat on the floor. Allow your body to relax. Place one hand on your chest, and the other at the top of your abdomen, just below your rib cage.
Inhale, allowing air to fill your belly and lower back, then travel all the way into your pelvic floor. Can you feel your pelvic floor expanding away from your body?
The hand on your chest should remain still, while the other hand is lifted by your expanding belly. You may also feel your lower ribs expanding away from each other and up towards the ceiling with the rest of your abdomen.
Exhale, letting everything gently release and settle back into position. Can you feel your pelvic floor moving back towards your body?
Continue to breathe this way for 5-10 minutes or for as long as possible. You may not feel much connection to your pelvic floor at first, but be patient and continue tuning into your body. The more you practice, the more your awareness and connection to this area will deepen, and the more you’ll naturally recruit your pelvic floor muscles.
2 Book an appointment with a pelvic floor specialist
Your pelvic floor is a complex and intricate part of your anatomy and so DIY diagnosis and treatment is best avoided. Pelvic floor disfunction can be due to multiple reasons. We tend to think that problems arise because our pelvic floor is weak and that pelvic floor exercises that strengthen our pelvic floor (aka kegels) are the answer. While that may be true for some, for others, pelvic floor disfunction occurs because there is too much tension in this area, which needs to be released. Others may need to work on co-ordinating their pelvic floor muscles. Or you might need to do all of the above.
If you've given birth, I highly recommend getting a “Mummy MOT” assessment, even if you had a baby years ago. This is a specialist postnatal examination which includes a full postural screen, pelvic floor examination, abdominal muscle exam & screening for dysfunction. I had a Mummy MOT with a brilliant osteopath specialising in women’s health called Niamh Honey who is based near Barnstaple in north Devon but if you don't live near the southwest of England, you can find Mummy MOT specialists throughout the UK. At £95 this examination is worth every penny. If money’s tight, keep pestering your GP for a referral to a specialist. This is a necessity not a luxury.
3 Join my online postnatal yoga course starting in the New Year or my regular yoga classes if you’re not postnatal
Postnatal Online Yoga Course
Especially designed for women in early motherhood, we’ll practice breathing exercises, connecting to our pelvic floor and slowly rebuilding “core” strength in a safe and supportive manner. The sessions will allow your body to come back to its natural equilibrium with breath awareness and gentle movement. Having recently had a baby myself, I know how challenging it can be to embrace your postnatal body. From the loss of your baby bump to swollen breasts, sore nipples and achey shoulders and wrists, everything feels different. This is all so normal. We’ll take it slowly - practising with a sense of acceptance and self-compassion, taking as much rest as you need. Contact me for more details and to join a beautiful community of mamas.
Sacred Root Online Yoga
If you’re not postnatal, my regular livestream yoga classes include breathing techniques and postures to help keep your pelvic floor in ship shape too! Click here for my class schedule.
And whatever you do, please don't suffer in silence. Remember you are not alone, pelvic floor disfunction is very common and can be treated, managed and often completely fixed, with the right help and support.
