Are you aware of where exactly your pelvic floor muscles are?
What exactly are these muscles? What are they responsible for?
Can you activate them in a controlled way?
How and for what purpose?
How to make them serve us fully at every stage of womanhood? How do you support them so that they don’t fail when you least expect it?
The pelvic floor muscles are the muscles contained within the pelvic structures, they close the pelvic floor from below, forming a kind of muscular “trampoline”. They support the urethra, bladder, uterus and rectum.
The pelvic floor is made up of three layers:
– Lying innermost between the pubic and caudal bones
– Located medially between the ischial tuberosities
– The external, formed by the sphincters
They are made up of striated muscles, so they depend on our willpower; we exercise them consciously. In their structure, they contain a predominance of slow-contracting fibres, which determines their postural function, maintaining optimal posture. These muscles are exposed to the force of gravity along with the strain on the internal organs. With excessive strain, resulting from overweight, neglected posture, excessive physical exertion, improper exercise technique, their function can be disrupted and instead of a ‘springy trampoline’ they turn into a ‘hanging hammock’. This phenomenon causes many unpleasant discomforts.
Dysfunction of the pelvic floor muscles can be twofold, one problem is their excessive relaxation and here strengthening exercises are justified, the other is their excessive tension correlated with emotional burdens and traumas blocked in the body.
The deep pelvic muscles reflect the emotional state and the attitude towards oneself and the world around us. Working on the muscles of the pelvic floor requires the practitioner to be aware of them and to locate them in the body, and it is important that they are exercised in accordance with the phases of breathing.
PFM – Pelvic Floor Muscles, an acronym also associated with Young People’s Housing, is a great comparison to show that the pelvis is the most wonderful home for a conceived child, also home for you to feel young and safe forever.
Future, present, mum!
Know that for your birth to go well and smoothly, the main factor is, well-functioning pelvic floor muscles. Training them correctly will make labour contractions easier, and when the baby is born, your pelvis will return to its pre-pregnancy shape, retaining its bone-supporting function.
Strong muscles will spare you problems with incontinence, back pain or a diminished sex life.
Research shows that women who have activated their pelvic floor muscles before and during pregnancy are less likely to need a perineal incision or have a perineal tear at birth.
Activation of the pelvic floor muscles in pregnancy
Activation of the PFMs during pregnancy, reduces lower back pain. Strong and activated MDMs, maintain correct posture and support the spine, which is particularly vulnerable during pregnancy due to the forward shift of the centre of gravity. This process accentuates the lumbar lordosis moving the organs forward. The mother’s activity during pregnancy starts a chain of activity for future generations, the baby already senses in the mother’s internal environment her attitude to physical activity, interacting with her movements.
Dear mothers! Take care of your baby’s motor development long before the birth. After all, where is the baby going to find more exercise than in a small gymnasium created from foetal waters, protected by strong pelvic floor muscles?
An increasingly common problem among women, urinary incontinence is a taboo subject; however, neglected PFMs are responsible for this condition. These muscles are particularly prone to weakening during the menopause, which can even result in organ prolapse, haemorrhoids, decreased potency, lack of awareness of one’s body.
This is why it is so important and so fundamental to work not only on the superficial muscles, but the deepest lying ones. Not only in the prime of life, but also in the second youth 😉
