Diseases
The pelvic floor can slacken in old age and then no longer perform the functions described above. Due to overweight, chronic physical overloading, poor posture or operations in the small pelvis, the pelvic floor can slacken prematurely and lead to incontinence. In women, the pelvic floor can also be weakened by childbirth.
This can lead to mild to severe symptoms of incontinence, bladder dropping, vaginal prolapse and uterus prolapse. In most cases these complications can be cured by a pelvic floor exercise (see below). Vaginismus is a permanent cramp of the pelvic floor muscles.
Affected women are then no longer able to relax the pelvic floor, which makes a gynaecological examination or sexual intercourse very difficult or even impossible. Ultrasound or an MRI of the pelvis is particularly suitable for making diseases of the pelvic floor visible. There are various reasons why it makes sense to train the pelvic floor muscles.
Mostly it is recommended for women who have had a pregnancy, as pregnancy enlarges the pelvis. However, training should not be started immediately after the birth, as this could hinder the healing of the damage caused by the birth. Due to hormonal changes, for example during menopause, it can also be useful for women to train the pelvic floor and strengthen the muscles in this area.
When the uterus lowers, a problem that affects many women during their lifetime, pelvic floor training can be helpful. However, under certain circumstances, training the pelvic floor muscles can also be recommended for men. For example, after prostate surgery or in case of potency problems, training of the muscles in this area can be recommended. For both sexes, it is recommended to carry out exercises to strengthen the pelvic floor muscles if incontinence problems, overweight or a weakness of the connective tissue are known. You can find more information on our page: Pelvic floor training.
Exercises
In order to train the pelvic floor muscles effectively, there are a number of exercises that can help to selectively tense the muscles. As the tension of the muscles in this area is particularly dependent on breathing, it is advisable to adopt a calm and relaxed posture and breathe in a relaxed manner while the exercises are being performed. The most relaxed posture for the pelvic floor muscles is in a supine position with bent, slightly spread legs.
Tension in the pelvic floor should always be coupled with exhalation. It is therefore recommended to do two normal breathing cycles and to tense the pelvic floor muscles and the abdominal muscles firmly during the third breathing cycle. With the next breath the muscles should be completely relaxed again.
This exercise should be performed for a few minutes every day. It is important here not to tense the abdominal muscles too much without simultaneously tensing the pelvic floor. This could lead to an unintentional sinking of the organs of the pelvis due to the increased pressure in the pelvis caused by the tense abdominal wall. There are a number of other exercises available, whereby the one described here has the advantage that in the resting position the pelvic floor muscles are brought into absolute relaxation. Thus, it is possible to switch between maximum tension and relaxation several times in one minute without any problems.
