The pelvic floor muscles are frequently overlooked, even though they are one of the most important muscle groups in the body, contributing significantly to the role of sexual response, child birth and support of the bladder, womb and bowel.  Weakness in the pelvic floor muscles can lead to stress incontinence, a particularly devastating condition that occurs in more than one in three women between the ages of thirty and sixty years.

The Pelvic Floor Muscles

The pelvic floor is a layer of muscle that stretches from the pubic bone at the front to the base of the spine.  The pelvic floor muscles are classified as postural muscles, which mean that they need to be active when the body is in the upright position. Without the support of a healthy pelvic floor, the ligaments that hold the bladder, bowel and womb in place can become damaged.

The pelvic floor muscles need to be slow to fatigue, enabling them to cope with everyday occurrences like a sneeze, cough or jump which create a rise in pressure, squeezing the bladder.  The muscles must be strong enough to respond efficiently to this rise in pressure with short bursts of power, in order to prevent urine from leaking from the bladder.  If the muscles are unable to respond efficiently a condition called stress incontinence may occur.

Many women are unaware how weakness of the pelvic floor muscle originates, but it is commonly associated with pregnancy, childbirth, menopause (when changes in hormonal production affect the pelvic support) and strenuous or vigorous activity (such as weight lifting).  Although these muscles do weaken with age, teenage girls can also display symptoms of pelvic floor weakness.

Exercising the Pelvic Floor Muscles

Many women wrongly believe that they are strengthening the pelvic floor through everyday workouts.  However, this is not the case so it is of paramount importance to incorporate exercise (see below) for the muscles into daily activity.  Frequently exercising the pelvic floor muscles will also raise the awareness of this part of the body, enabling you to detect any weakness or change in condition.

Basic Exercise

Sit or lie comfortably with the knees slightly apart.  Concentrate on the pelvic floor muscles.  Attempt to lift and squeeze the muscles.  Imagine you are trying to stop a flow of urine.  Breathe naturally throughout, without squeezing your buttocks or tensing your abdomen.

Endurance Exercise

Use the same protocol as explained in the basic exercise.

Contract the muscles for at least two seconds, but as long as possible would be preferable.  Rest an equal amount of time, then repeat

Strength Exercise

Repeat the same exercise again, this time making the contractions faster and stronger.

The frequency that the exercises should be performed is dependant on the level of weakness discovered, but as with any exercise routine, workouts should be a gradual build up of duration and strength contractions.  If you find the exercises demanding, aim to achieve ten contractions.  However, if you suffer from stress incontinence and find these exercises do not improve your condition, you may wish to seek professional advice.