Getting to Know Your Pelvic Floor
Your pelvic floor is made up of muscles, ligaments and tissues that hold your pelvic organs in place. It’s responsible for holding and supporting your:
Bladder Uterus and your Bowel
These super muscles also support three openings:
Front (urethra), middle (vagina) and back (anus)
Your pelvic floor shouldn’t be too tight or too saggy if it’s to do its
job properly in supporting your bladder, uterus and bowel.
Getting to Know Your Pelvic Floor
Your pelvic floor is part of your core. The uncontained intra-abdominal pressure inside your abdomen has nowhere
to go, so that’s when it pushes down and out, causing pelvic floor weakness, and diastasis recti or core weakness.
Certain exercises and alignment adjustments can help to restore and strengthen your core and pelvic floor.
After using MUTU System 92% of women reported an improvement in bladder symptoms including urinary leakage.*
Find and work those muscles!
You may have heard about Kegel exercises. But just squeezing occasionally as you wait at the traffic lights isn’t enough to really banish symptoms and give your pelvic floor some TLC. There is a ‘release’ phase which is also vital, a breathing connection to understand, as well as understanding how to actually apply those squeezes to your everyday life and movements. Here’s how:
Step 1
Inhale and let your stomach muscles and pelvic floor relax. Let it all go. This part is really important. Your muscles can’t work properly if they’re ‘switched on’ all the time
Step 2
Next, exhale as you lift and gently squeeze your pelvic floor. To find the right muscles, imagine you’re trying not to fart (engaging the back passage muscles is a great way to ‘find’ your pelvic floor – they’re all connected!), or drawing a tampon further up inside your vagina. Imagine picking up a grape with your vaginal lips, or that your vagina is a straw and you’re sucking a smoothie through it… all slightly weird, all effective. Nothing forceful. Its a gentle squeeze and lift
Step 3
Then breathe in and fully relax and release those muscles, being careful not to push down or away. Again, this isn’t a forceful movement, just release and fully let go
Step 4
Repeat 5 times, in time with your own breath, always relaxing and releasing on the inhale, drawing upwards and gently squeezing on the exhale. Do these 5 breaths at least couple of times a day, every day
Step 5
You can now engage and release your pelvic floor properly. So the next step is to apply your new skill to everyday life! Whenever you pick up a heavy load (like a child or car seat for eg), prepare, inhale and release first, then engage and exhale as you lift to protect your pelvic floor and core. After using MUTU System 97% of women are you able to locate their pelvic floor muscles and perform pelvic floor exercises.*
Frequently called: Weak bladder, bladder weakness, bladder leakage, “oops moment”, “little leaks”.
When you leak a little or a lot during exercise, when you sneeze or laugh (literally ‘pmsl’), this is Stress Incontinence (SUI). It can feel embarrassing, lonely and it can destroy your self-esteem. If you feel overwhelmed right now, rest assured there is help for you, you can live a leak free life and you will feel better again. You don’t have to put up with leaks or mask the problem with a pad, just because you had a baby. After using MUTU System 92% of women reported an improvement in bladder symptoms including urinary leakage.*
Also Known As: Pelvic Prolapse or ‘POP’
Different Types of Prolapse Cystocele (bladder prolapse), rectocele (rectal prolapse), enterocele (small intestine prolapse), vaginal prolapse and uterine prolapse (uterus).
Causes of Pelvic Prolapse
Prolapse is caused by a damaged or weakened pelvic floor. In this instance, your pelvic floor can no longer do its job to hold up and support your pelvic organs.
Pelvic Prolapse symptoms can feel really uncomfortable, sometimes painful and can impact on your mental and physical wellbeing. Symptoms include:
- Pain or pressure in the vagina
- Pain or pressure in the rectum
- Urinary incontinence
- Fecal Incontinence
- Constipation
- Back and abdominal pain
- Lack of sexual sensation or painful sex
- Unable to keep a tampon in
- Feeling as though your insides are falling out.
After using MUTU System 88% of women reported an improvement in symptoms of pelvic organ prolapse.*
Painful sex
Sex might not even be on your radar right now, but if you are dealing with pain during sex and just accepting it
as your new norm, MUTU can help.
Why does sex hurt and what can you do to enjoy pain free intercourse?
Sex can be painful for a number of reasons, first and foremost, if you haven’t already, you should speak to a women’s health physiotherapist so they can help determine the best course of treatment for you. Reasons sex can hurt after having a baby:
Pelvic Organ Prolapse. When the pelvic muscles can’t support your pelvic organs, this causes a prolapse and one of the symptoms of POP is pain or discomfort during sex.
A ‘too tight’ or ‘hypertonic’ pelvic floor. Meaning you can’t let go of and relax your pelvic floor muscles. This can be caused by physical or emotional trauma, from Kegeling and engaging too much, and from holding in or sucking in your core and pelvic floor. You need to learn how to release effectively before building strength again. Learning how to engage and release correctly is key.
After using MUTU System 92% of women reported an improvement in bladder symptoms
including urinary leakage.*
