What is the pelvic floor?

Our pelvic floor is the group of muscles that form the bottom of our ‘container’. These tissues run between the hips and the pelvis, and connect with our deep core as well. The pelvic floor is designed to keep our organs and fluids inside our bodies unless it’s time to have a baby or head to the restroom.

What’s a pelvic floor issue?

When the pelvic floor can’t do its job to hold things in, we get issues such as urinary incontinence (sneeze pee!), fecal incontinence, or pelvic organ prolapse. A prolapse is when a pelvic organ such as the bladder, uterus or rectum starts to drop through the pelvic floor.

Pelvic floor issues also include pelvic pain, pain during sex, and can even show up as hip, SI joint and lower back pain.

Diastasis recti, or a separation of the connective tissues in the core, often goes along with pelvic floor issues because they have similar root causes.

Pelvic floor issues are very common in modern bodies. If you’re experiencing any of these issues, know that around 30% of North American women are in the same boat.

What causes pelvic floor issues?

Modern movement habits create tight, weak pelvic floor muscles. Then when these weak muscles are loaded heavily (e.g. sneezing, doing sit-ups, running or having a baby), they aren’t strong enough to do their job and they fail. When pelvic floor tissues fail, we experience symptoms ranging from leakage to prolapse to pain.

Habits that create pelvic floor weakness include:

• Spending a lot of time sitting in chairs, cars and sofas
• Not enough walking
• Not enough squatting
• Wearing shoes with heels
• Belly breathing
• Poor ribcage and pelvic alignment
• Core tension and tightness

Are pelvic floor issues fixable?

Absolutely! By changing our movement habits, most pelvic floor issues can be healed, or at least greatly improved. Some people also benefit greatly from pelvic floor physiotherapy, but it’s important to change the root causes if we’re seeking a permanent solution.

Once a pelvic organ prolapse has become severe, it may not be possible to entirely resolve. This is because the ligaments that once suspended the organ have become stretched, and current research says that stretched ligaments cannot be unstretched. However, it’s certainly possible to improve the state of the surrounding muscles, and often to improve pelvic floor function as a result.

What can I do to resolve my pelvic floor issues?

The first step to fixing pelvic floor problems is to understand them. Understanding why our movement habits create pelvic issues can help us create new habits that heal and nurture our pelvic health. Movement habits that can improve pelvic floor issues include:

• Improving hip mobility
• Transitioning to minimal shoes
• Learning to squat (this is part of hip mobility),
• Learning to walk with a posterior push-off gait (and when your body allows, making walking a big part of your daily life)
• Learning to sit and stand with better alignment
• Learning functional core and breathing patterns
• Choose an exercise program that will support your pelvic floor wellness

Start Resolving Your Pelvic Floor Issues Today

Hundreds of women have watched this webinar and learned in depth why pelvic floor issues happen and how to start healing. Learn which movement habits you need to change and my favourite exercises to help your journey!