The pelvic floor is the “base” of your core. It s a group of muscles and tissues that support your organs (bladder, urethra, rectum, vagina). During pregnancy, birth and postpartum we experience a lot of changes to our bodies which can significantly impact pelvic floor function. What we need to understand about the pelvic floor is that it is a muscle, just like any other muscle in our body. It’s a muscle that needs to shorten and lengthen to respond to the demands placed on it. 

This can be in response to something happening unconsciously like coughing or sneezing or consciously, like lifting something heavy. What we want is, not necessarily the strongest pelvic floor, but a well coordinated system. 

While there are many things you can do to help improve a weakened pelvic floor or signs of dysfunction through strength training and working alongside a pelvic floor physical therapist, there are also good pelvic health habits you can implement in your day to day. These apply to both pregnancy and postpartum and can be used a preventative approach:

Avoid becoming constipated

Sitting for too long on the toilet and straining to have a bowel movement, can put a lot of pressure on your pelvic floor muscles. Especially if pregnant and early postpartum when these muscles are already under more strain. This can increase – or create – symptoms of dysfunction like prolapse or an overactive bladder. 

Hydration is essential for overall health, but is also a key part to your pelvic wellness. It will help aid digestion and keep things moving. Adding electrolytes can significantly improve this too.

Alongside hydration, consider your fiber intake and aim for 25-30 gram a day. Generally speaking, fiber is a carbohydrate that cannot be broken down by the body. High fiber foods helps us stay fuller for longer and can be a great source of energy.  The types of fiber include:

1. Soluble fiber, which will dissolve in water. This helps lower cholesterol and blood glucose levels. Foods include; beans, lentils, oatmeal, nuts, apples, blueberries.
2. Insoluble fiber, which does not dissolve in water and can help move food through the digestive system, preventing constipation. Foods includes; whole grains, brown rice, legumes, carrots, cucumbers, tomatoes.

Recent studies have shown the average American only consumes 15g a day. Studies have also demonstrated that the risk of constipation appeared greater in women with prolapse and that this was partially linked to a lower insoluble fiber intake. 

It’s important to note, that when you are increasing fiber this should happen gradually. If you do this too quickly, you may notice symptoms like bloat, gassiness, cramping and general discomfort. 

Relax your pelvic floor

We can carry a lot of tension in our pelvic floor both during pregnancy and postpartum. As well we building strength it’s equally as important to learn how to relax and lengthen your pelvic floor muscles to work them through their full range of motion.

So why do your pelvic floor muscles become tight or overactive?

It can be caused by a wide range of issues and is best diagnosed by a pelvic floor physical therapist. You’re going to see symptoms like pain with penetration, incomplete emptying both urinary and bowel, urinary urgency, constipation, pain, tension and/or heaviness in the pelvic floor during activity as well as at rest.

It can be a result of weaknesses with the surrounding muscles, for example, muscles picking up the slack and working overtime to create stability. It can also be due to trauma to the tissue. This is common after a vaginal birth and any tearing and subsequent stitches you may have had. Or even emotional or mental disruptions leading to a persistent stress response.

Include techniques and positions that:

• Get your ribcage moving in a 360 fashion
• Take pressure off your pelvic floor. Positions like legs up the wall can be a great option
• Stretch your adductors and hips
• Lengthen and open the glutes
• Relieve tension in your low back
• Trigger point release to address direct areas of tension across external pelvic floor muscles or deep hip rotators

Check in on your posture

There is no such thing as the ‘perfect posture’ but….. Stop clenching your glutes. 

Glute clenching is not a purposeful engagement of the glutes, but is what happens when you’re constantly holding tension in your glute muscles. We do not want our muscles on all the time. Our muscles need to relax and contract to be strong. You cannot get stronger if you do not move through the muscles full range of motion.

Weakness, poor alignment or pain can cause a person to clench or squeeze their glutes all the time. This can affect hip muscle function and movement, making it harder to get movement in the back of the hips and causing further glute tightness and weakness. As well as cause low back pain and add to a tight and weak pelvic floor.

Often, this is a habit we do without even realizing and happens during every day tasks – when brushing your teeth, washing dishes, preparing food, baby wearing etc. Unsure whether this is you? While standing, squeeze your glutes and hold for one second, then actively let them go. Do you feel increased relaxation of the muscle after engaging it? Or do you have a hard time letting go after squeezing? If you answered yes to either, then you are most likely clenching your glutes.

If you answered yes, here are some areas to focus on:

• Create space in the backside of the hip. Hip shift/pull back variations are my favourite for this;
• Eccentric glute loading (e.g hip hinging, single leg strength with an internal rotation bias);
• Strengthen your glute medius
• Address pelvic positioning and strengthening the proximal hamstring

These approaches are broken down further – and with guidance – in my Return to Strength postpartum program.

These are great habits to implement into your everyday, however, if you are struggling to heal dysfunction or understand why you are symptomatic, this is best addressed by a pelvic floor physical therapist.  This will make following a postpartum specific fitness program so much more successful if you can understand YOUR body. Don’t guess, mama!