Pelvic Floor Exercises For ALL Women
Pelvic floor health is important for all women.
When discussing pelvic floor exercises with women, we frequently hear one incredibly common response: 'I haven’t had children so I don’t need to worry about pelvic floor exercises.'
There are so many myths about pelvic floor health but this is one of the biggest! Women who have never had children are still susceptible to leaking urine throughout their life. According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics, about a quarter of women in their reproductive years are likely to never have children. By 2031, the number of couples without children will overtake the number of couples with children. This may potentially result in a large number of women who will neglect their pelvic floor health, simply by being under false pretence.
When we are younger there are lots of activities that can impact anyone's pelvic floor muscles including constipation, chronic coughing, long-term high impact sports. Basically any time you increase the pressure in your abdominal cavity by ‘bearing down’ you can impact your pelvic floor. Certain sports have a much higher impact; trampolining, horse riding, gymnastics, basketball and hockey to name a few. Many of these sports may also create a very strong pelvic floor but one that is constantly ‘switched on’ and unable to relax. Any muscle that is overactive is not a functional muscle, and for the groups of muscles that make up the pelvic floor, non-functioning can lead to leaking urine.
Illustration courtesy of Pelvic Guru.
One thing that is unavoidable in a woman's life is menopause. Menopausal symptoms are created by changes in hormones. In particular, production of oestrogen drops of significantly. Oestrogen is a female defining hormone, contributing to breast development, periods, and body shape. Oestrogen also affects how muscles contract and heal. The drop in oestrogen levels affects the pelvic floor and vulvovaginal tissues in two ways:
1) Pelvic floor muscles become weaker and do not contract or heal as well. Urination can thus become more frequent and difficult to control
2) Within a few years of menopause, roughly 50% of women will develop symptoms related to atrophy (wasting) of the vagina, causing dryness, irritation, and pain during sex.
So with pelvic floor muscles thinning and not contracting as well, you are at increased risk of urine leakage. Whilst pelvic floor exercises are not the complete solution for all causes of incontinence, they are vitally important in improving continence issues, and can also help with experience of sex. If you do not work it, you will lose it!
The best advice we can offer regarding pelvic floor health is that 'prevention is better than cure.' Acknowledge the presence and important function of your pelvic floor. Start doing pelvic floor exercises! Aim to do them every day. It takes minimal time to complete them but can have a huge impact on your future life as well as your current one. Take control and make it work for you.
For instructions on how to work your pelvic floor have a look at the fact sheet on our website. If you’re not sure you are doing them correctly, or if you are already experiencing symptoms of pelvic floor dysfunction, please seek out a professional to get properly assessed, such as your GP, a pelvic floor physiotherapist, gynaecologist, or continence professional.
REFERENCES:
NAUMOVA, I., & CASTELO-BRANCO, C. (2018). CURRENT TREATMENT OPTIONS FOR POSTMENOPAUSAL VAGINAL ATROPHY. INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF WOMEN'S HEALTH, 10, 387–395. DOI:10.2147/IJWH.S158913
NEELS, H., TJALMA, W. A., WYNDAELE, J. J., DE WACHTER, S., WYNDAELE, M., & VERMANDEL, A. (2016). KNOWLEDGE OF THE PELVIC FLOOR IN MENOPAUSAL WOMEN AND IN PERIPARTUM WOMEN. JOURNAL OF PHYSICAL THERAPY SCIENCE, 28(11), 3020–3029. DOI:10.1589/JPTS.28.3020
FLAVIALGNACIO A, ET AL. (2018).PELVIC FLOOR MUSCLE TRAINING INCREASES PELVIC FLOOR MUSCLE STRENGTH MORE IN POST-MENOPAUSAL WOMEN WHO ARE NOT USING HORMONE THERAPY THAN IN WOMEN WHO ARE USING HORMONE THERAPY: A RANDOMISED TRIAL.JOURNAL OF PHYSIOTHERAPY, 64(3), 166-171. DOI:10.1016/J.JPHYS.2018.05.002
AUTHORS: PETA TITTER, RHEA PSERECKIS