LET’S CELEBRATE INTERNATIONAL WOMEN’S DAY WITH PELVIC FLOOR EXERCISES
Today is International Women’s Day, a worldwide event that celebrates women’s achievements and calls for gender equality. From my point of view there is no better success in a woman’s life than knowing her body, connecting with it to learn the messages it is giving to her, and living fully and in peace with her femininity.
Female’s pelvic floor seems to be a taboo and often women are too embarrassed to talk openly about their woman’s health problems, but the truth is that many women suffer from menstrual problems, incontinence, infertility, pelvic organ prolapse or pelvic pain related to ageing, pregnancy and postpartum. If you or a woman you know suffers any of these conditions, I encourage you to contact a women’s health physiotherapist to help you.
This is the link to the Association of Chartered Physiotherapists in Women's Health now called Pelvic, Obstetric and Gynaecological Physiotherapy (POGP): http://pogp.csp.org.uk
Acupuncture and Chinese Herbal Medicine can help restore hormonal and emotional balance as well as overall vitality to women during any stage of their life. Contact the British Acupuncture Council to find an acupuncturist specialized in women’s health: http://www.acupuncture.org.uk/
Six years ago I had the honour to assist a course with Blandine Calais-Germain and Nuria Vives. Blandine is the author of Anatomy of Movement, whose book The Female Pelvis I highly recommend if you are interested in learning more about the subject. Nuria is a corporal pedagogue that teaches retreats to help you feel your anatomy in a personal and particular way. I am sharing with you a piece of the wisdom they shared with me.
The Female Pelvis
At the lowest part of our trunk, the pelvis is a bony structure that surrounds the organs of the pelvic cavity (ovaries, uterus, urinary bladder, pelvic colon and the rectum) and the muscles of the perineum. The pelvis is solid to give stability and protection to the structures mentioned before but at same time it is flexible and mobile giving it the possibility to adapt to different circumstances. The most relevant one is childbirth.
The pelvis is made up of four bones that are arranged like a bony ring and have a butterfly shape. There are two ilium bones at right and left and the sacrum and coccyx at the back. The top of the ilium bone, called iliac crest, is the curved place where you put your hands on your hips. The right and left ilium bones are joined together in the front at the pubic symphysis by a thick fibrous cartilage. It can be felt in the pubic region, beneath the hairline. To the rear and below, on each side, the ilium turns into a tuberosity called ischium. Ischiums can be felt by placing your hands under your buttocks when sitting on a chair and leaning your body weight to on one side and the other one. In the back, the two ilium bones join to the sacrum by the sacroiliac joint. The sacrum has the size of a closed fist and ends with a pointed small structure called coccyx, the tailbone that evolution converted into just some tiny fused vertebrae.
The pelvic floor
This is the name given to the group of muscles that sit in the lower pelvis as an open umbrella. It is composed of two layers: the perineum, a superficial layer formed by the bulbospongiosus, ischiocavernosus, superficial transverse perineal, sphincter of the anus, external sphincter of the urethra and the deep transverse muscles; and the pelvic diaphragm, a deeper layer formed by the puborectalis, pubococcygeus, iliococcygeus and coccygeus muscle.
The muscles in the pelvic floor are in constant work, they create a lower support for the organs located in the pelvic cavity, keeping them in place. On the other hand, these muscles have the capability to be elastic and serve as a passageway from the interior to the exterior, helping with excretion and childbirth.
Since the pelvic floor muscles are hidden, we are not always aware of their existence and work. They can be felt easier when coughing, sneezing or blowing a balloon, actions that generate internal pressure and activate their holding action.
Exercising the Pelvic Floor with images
1. To begin with, lay down in your back with your knees bent. You need to be relaxed and comfortable so you can adjust your posture with pillows and cover with a blanket to stay warm. Try to feel for the following bony structures of the pelvis: the two ischium, the pubis and the coccyx. To become familiar with the area, locate the bony structures with your hands.
2. Visualize the superficial layer: it makes an 8 shape attaching to the pubic symphysis and the coccyx in a vertical plane, and attaches horizontally from ones ischium to the other one.
3. Contract the muscles from front to back, drawing your coccyx and pubis toward each other. Relax and repeat again several times. The movement is very slight, almost unnoticeable. Can you feel the movement?
4. Contract the muscles from side to side, drawing your two ischiums one to each other. Relax and repeat again several times. Again, the movement is very slight. Can you feel the movement?
5. Contract the deeper layer, pulling your anus upward and forward, resembling the action to hold wind inside. Relax and repeat again several times. This time, the movement slightly more vigorous. Can you feel the movement?
It can take some time until you become familiar with the muscles of the pelvic floor and connect with its subtle movements. I would encourage you to bring awareness to the area at least once a day. When you feel comfortable with the exercises you can practice them in different positions: sitting in a chair, standing up or walking. You can practice them while standing up in the supermarket queue, waiting for the bus to arrive, sitting on your desk at work, cooking, going for a walk...
Because the muscles retain memories and our pelvic floor is a sensitive area where we tend to hold emotions, it is possible that while doing the exercises those emotions become unblocked and come into the surface to be released.
These exercises will help you to bring awareness down to your body, to the present moment, and will help you disconnect from your busy mind. Making your root core more energetic will make you conect with your instinct and feel more confident and linked to the Earth and the environment around you. Strengthening and relaxing the pelvic floor muscles will generate movement, alleviating your menstrual discomforts and constipation. Gaining force and elasticity, you will feel your incontinence or organ prolapses improving. And gaining awareness to the area will make you enjoy more your sexual life!
I encourage you to give it a go and let me know how you are doing!
