All the Goodness of Pelvic Floor Exercises for Men and Women
The pelvic floor in women can weaken for many reasons, including the impact of child birth, the aging process, stress, menopause, weight changes, and surgeries. This may result in the muscles becoming too stretched and loose, weakened, or too tight and restricted. Both decreased and increased muscle tone can lead to pelvic floor dysfunction.
As for men, there are many risk factors for pelvic floor disorders, including aging, injury, obesity, surgery, trauma, and even abdominal issues such as constipation. If you have a penis (lingam), the pelvic floor muscles support the bladder and bowel, preventing leakage. They also help in men with sexual health, including function and sensation.
When these muscles weaken, you may experience issues with incontinence, painful intercourse, and even a dropping of organs into your pelvic muscles, called a prolapse. This can have an effect on other parts of the body that compensate for the imbalance, presenting with issues in the abdomen or as back pain.
The pelvic floor muscles are critical to daily functions. They support the pelvic organs, including the bladder, urethra, rectum, anus, prostate, uterus, cervix, vagina and intestines.
Pelvic floor contributes to:
Sexual health and function, including arousal and orgasm.
Increased Bladder Control-A strong pelvic floor ensures that you will have better control of your bladder and regular urinary functions.
Easier Bowel movements-If you pelvic floor is weakened, it can lead to excessive straining and pain during bowel movements and may even cause constipation.
Uterine Prolapse is more common than you may think for women over the age of 55. When the pelvic floor is to weak to support the uterus. A strong pelvic floor can protect you from this and the prolapse of the bladder and bowel.
Improved Recovery from Childbirth or Surgery-A strong pelvic floor can help speed up the recovery process and relieve some of the related pain, and increase your overall wellbeing.
Increased Orgasmic potential (My favorite) Doing sexual activity the pelvic floor get tense and then releases when an orgasm is achieved, a strong pelvic floor makes this process not only more possible, but more powerful.
Reduce lower back pain-We often hear strengthening our core can help protect your lower back, but did you know that strengthening the pelvic floor also reduces back pain.
Simple way to find you pelvic floor muscles
Try stopping or slowing urine flow while going to the bathroom.
Lie down with your knees bent and feet on the floor. Inhale and when you exhale draw in your lower abdominal muscles like you’re trying to stop gas or urine. Vagina (Yoni) owners can squeeze the muscles around the vagina. Hold for about 5 secs and let everything go.
To locate this muscle while standing imagine you need to pass gas and don’t want to let it out. This forces you to squeeze your rectum and anus.
Remember the Pelvic floor spans the distance across the bottom of your pelvis, so if you’re contracting only the muscles that control your urine and not the rectal muscles you are not getting a full contraction.
This is what makes Pelvic Floor Strengthen different than Kegel’s. Also it’s important to learn how to both contract and relax these muscles.
Diaphragmatic Breathing
The pelvic floor muscles and the diaphragm work in synergy with one another. When the lungs fill with air, the diaphragm drops and the pelvic floor also drops or lengthens. Exhaling as you contract your pelvic floor can further assist in the lifting motion.
