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Pelvic Health

Why It’s Important to Stay Proactive with Your Pelvic Floor Health

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woman stretching

It’s important to be proactive when it comes to the health of your pelvic floor.

While urinary incontinence may not be entirely preventable, there are several ways to alleviate the issue.

Identifying Your Pelvic Muscles

Being aware of where your pelvic muscles are located is the first step to strengthening your pelvic floor. But, how do you locate your pelvic muscles? There are three different ways to find your muscles:

3 ways to locate your pelvic muscles:

  1. Locate the muscles surrounding your bladder opening by starting and stopping a stream of urine. If you can stop the flow of urine mid-stream, you’ve used your pelvic floor muscles.

  2. Locate the muscles around your back passage (rectum). If you can tighten these muscles by holding wind (gas) or at the end of a bowel movement, you’ve used your pelvic floor muscles.

  3. Locate your muscles when you properly squeeze your pelvic floor by engaging muscles in an upward motion. If you can feel the upward movement of your muscles, you’re using your pelvic floor muscles.

Pelvic Floor Exercises

Exercising your pelvic floor will help strengthen muscles, allowing you to control your bladder and bowel better, and can also alleviate discomfort.  Pelvic floor exercises may include:

  1. Kegels: Often referred to as “pelvic floor exercises”, Kegels are ideal for women of all ages. Kegels involve tightening your muscles as if you were sitting on a marble and then lifting that marble up to strengthen your pelvic floor muscles from the inside. You can incorporate Kegels into your daily routine by completing three sets of 10-15 repetitions.

  2. Pilates: Pilates utilizes both slow and fast movements. Many of these exercises reinforce the muscles surrounding the pelvis which can help strengthen the pelvic floor and reduce symptoms of incontinence.

  3. Yoga: Yoga helps to strengthen pelvic floor muscles, improve balance, and is a great way to meditate.

Contact MetroPartners OBGYN

If you’re experiencing any pain in your pelvic floor, it’s best to consult your provider. If pelvic floor pain becomes too much and inhibits you from enjoying a full life, give MetroPartners OBGYN a call and schedule an appointment today.