Pelvic floor exercises

The pelvic floor is a group of muscles that sit like a bowl in your pelvis. The purpose of these muscles is to support your pelvic organs from beneath, keep you in control of your bladder and bowels, and they also play an important role in sexual pleasure.

The reason these muscles become especially important in pregnancy is because your pelvic floor is having to work harder than ever before. Your uterus, complete with placenta, amniotic fluid and baby, is heavy!

A weak pelvic floor can present in two main ways: it’s either lazy or it’s super tight. A lazy pelvic floor will be a thin muscle with no oomph. This means the muscle doesn’t have the strength to give any support or control. You may find you have to rush to the toilet multiple times a day, or you leak when you sneeze. Or maybe you start getting a heavy, dragging sensation down below at the end of the day.

A super tight pelvic floor will be a thick rigid muscle, trying so hard to keep up, but without the strength to do it. Telling signs can be constipation, or feeling like you aren’t fully emptying after going for a wee or a poo. You may be getting pelvic or low back pain because of the constant tension in the muscle.

There are lots of pelvic floor training gadgets on the market. Some are designed to give real-time feedback on what your pelvic floor muscle is doing; others work the muscles with electrical stimulation. I can’t tell you whether gadgets are ‘good’ or ‘bad’, because it depends on what your body needs. What I would say is that for the vast majority they aren’t necessary, but they can be an added help for the right person. Always speak to your midwife/medical team if you are considering using during pregnancy, and ideally seek assessment from a Pelvic Health specialist postnatally.

I hope this has given you some confidence and taken the mystery out of the pelvic floor. It is just muscle and can be trained like any other part of the body when you know how.

Good luck!