The pelvic floor is one of the most important parts of a woman's body, and yet not enough is known. The pelvic floor consists in the set of muscles and connective tissues that work as a structure that supports the pelvic organs, the uterus, the vagina, the urinary bladder, the urethra and the rectum.
What functions does the pelvic floor has?
Its functions are: controlling the sphincters for adequate urination and defecation, as well as supporting the bladder, uterus, vagina and rectum. In addition, it has a reproductive function in which a pelvic floor with a suitable tone allows the baby to rotate at delivery and the injection reflex is triggered, which assists the baby's exit to the outside. It also plays a key role in sexual relations - if something goes wrong, it may be due to pelvic floor and its weakness.
What does its weakness may be caused by?
Some of the reasons why our pelvic floor may be in low tone are pregnancy, vaginal delivery, postpartum, impact sports or menopause. In addition, genetic inheritance and daily habits can also play an important role.
What are the typical symptoms of a weak pelvic floor?
The most frequent symptoms are: urinary incontinence, annoyance or discomfort in sexual relations, as well as pain in the pelvic area, genital prolapse or decrease in the pelvic organs.
Prevention and rehabilitation
It is important to keep in mind that there are very effective solutions which help to solve this problem, so you do not have to endure and live with it.
As we have previously mentioned, pregnancy and childbirth are processes that affect negatively the pelvic floor of women. During pregnancy, there is great support for the muscles and ligaments of the pelvis, but in childbirth these structures are subjected to extreme dilation effort.
For this reason, it is recommended to work out the pelvic floor before pregnancy and delivery to minimize weakening. On the other hand, there are also pelvic floor rehabilitation programs that restore muscle tone after delivery. Besides that, any woman should have a strengthened pelvic floor since it improves sexual relations.
How? There are different techniques and treatments such as Kegel exercises, hypopressive abdominal gymnastics, electrostimulation and massage therapy, among others.
Each woman is unique, so we advise putting yourself in the hands of a physiotherapist specialized in pelvic floor for a correct assessment and design of the work to be followed.