Pelvic Floor and Core
What is the Pelvic Floor?
Where is the Pelvic Floor?
Why the heck do I need to know about my Pelvic Floor?
The pelvic floor is a group of muscles that live at the base of your pelvis, between your sit bones and between your tailbone at the back and your pubic bone in the front. It consists of a group of muscles that support our pelvic organs and function in the bladder, bowel, and sexual well-being. The Pelvic Floor is the bottom of your pressure system, and your vocal cords are at the top of this pressure system that influences many areas of your body. Breathe, posture, and alignment are key aspects that can influence your pressure system. The tension that you have in your neck may be there because the rest of your pressure system isn't working properly. The tension that you have at the front of your hips may be stemming from areas along your kinetic chain that aren't working properly.
Good posture equates to perfect pressure regulation. Too much or too little pressure can cause problems such as hernias and low back pain.
Let's discuss the factors that influence this pressure system. Starting at the top is head alignment. You want to think tall. The crown of your head is reaching towards the sky. If you have a forward head posture, you have decreased diaphragm function.
What is the diaphragm? It's the major muscle of respiration. It is the primary worker for breathing, with its main function being controlling your respiratory system. For you to be efficient, you want to have 360 degrees of front, side, and back body expansion. (This is explained in the Video to follow); Your rib cage angle is also a major contributor to this pressure system. Your rib cage angle influences the efficiency of your core muscles and diaphragm. You want your rib cage angle to be at 90 degrees, which can be improved upon greatly with breath work and manual therapy.
A demonstration of this is also provided in the Video below.
The next area along your kinetic chain is your hips. How do your hips move? The range of motion, stability, mobility, and strength of your hips all influence your pressure system. Weakness, tightness, and positioning of your femur will all influence the efficiency or load that is put onto another area. An example of this is your femur. If your femur is too far forward, your glutes will not be able to fire. What this may feel like is constant tightness in your hip flexors. You will never have access to fire your glutes efficiently because of the position of your femur. Another area that the hips influence is the pelvic floor. Your pelvic floor muscles may not be able to relax and contract as you breathe because the surrounding muscles are not doing their job. Another key point to note is that your major hip flexor muscle, the psoas, directly attaches to the diaphragm.
If you thought one area of your body doesn't influence another, I hope the explanation I just provided will help to change your mind.
Pelvis positioning is the next area that is very important. Individuals most likely will be in an anterior or posterior pelvic tilt or may switch between one extreme and the other.
The video below also goes over how to access this as well.
Overall a quick alignment check could be done with your sternum over your pubic bone. Pubic Bones are in line with your ASIS, as described in the video (neutral positioning of your pelvis). Crown of your head reaching towards the sky. Feet grounded, with heel, big toe, and pinkie all grounded in a nice tripod, as many yoga instructors cue.
Pelvic Floor Functioning
We must return to the topic of breathing. Proper breathing mechanics is a key component in ensuring your pressure system is working properly. As you inhale, you want to have 360 degrees of expansion of your ribs, front, side, and back body. As you inhale, your pelvic floor should relax and lengthen. You can test this by inhaling through your nose, and to get a better connection to your diaphragm put the tongue on the roof of your mouth.
Can you feel your pelvic floor relax?
There are a few different sitting positions where you can test the three different areas of your pelvic floor for both contraction and relaxation. A future blog and video will discuss this. As you exhale, you want to let your ribs melt down towards your pelvis gently. Your pelvic floor pulls up and contracts. You can test you exhale with a pursed lips exhale, long and deliberate. Not fast or aggressive. The connection of breath to your pelvic floor will be difficult if there is tightness or weakness in the pelvic floor muscles. A healthcare expert can help you determine where you align on the spectrum of breathing and help guide you to more efficient breathing. As a Post Partum Corrective Exercise Specialist, I can help you determine where your strengths and weaknesses lie.
If your pressure system isn't efficient, the forces that we create through breathing, lifting heavy objects, running, jumping, and even coughing will take the path of least resistance. What can happen if there is not an efficient pressure system? What does this create? Prolapse, diastasis recti, hernias, and low back pain are all ailments that can occur.
Prolapse often occurs when there is an imbalance in pressure, with too much downward pressure on the pelvic floor. If left untreated, this could lead to surgical interventions years after having your children. You do not want to bear down onto your pelvic floor, say when you're lifting a heavy object. You want to make sure you have a good inhale, with 360 degrees of back, side, and front body expansion. Then, as you exhale, you can lift up the object, with a connection to pulling up from the pelvic floor. Prolapse is often caused by weakness or tightness in the pelvic floor.
Diastasis Recti is the separation of the linea alba (connective tissue at your midline) that can be seen in both men and women. Its most often seen in men that are middle-aged or older men with improper breathing mechanics or increased weight. There are three points to check for DR, at, above, and below your bellow button, checking for depth, width, and squishiness. More details on how to check for this could be obtained via email or phone call. DR is often seen with doming, at, above, or below the belly button. Diastasis Recti is difficult to heal without good posture and alignment because of the forward pressure that may be put on this area throughout your day. One good example of this, as seen in the video below, is reaching up to wash your hair. Can you reach the top of your head without extending from your upper back? If you're extending from your upper back, you are putting forward pressure on your midline (linea alba), DR.
If this pressure system is optimal, you will challenge your core through daily activities with your friends/family, and kids all day long.
If your pressure system isn't working efficiently, you are not allowing your muscles to work throughout the day, which could be putting your body at risk for injury either now or further down the road.
Please check out the Pelvic Floor and Core Educational Video; the first half is educational, and the second half is educational exercises.
You can get to know me a little better through this video.
Information for both Men and Women
If you have any questions, please feel free to call, email or DM me. I'd love to chat.
Trouble jumping, coughing, leaking. Feel like something is off? This information can definitely help. Implement immediately.
Please contact Dr. Laura
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