Look in a mirror if lying down doesn't work. If you are a guy, the lying on your back method for locating your pelvic floor muscles may not work. An alternative is for you to stand in front of a mirror naked. Look at your body as you attempt to flex your pelvic floor muscles. If you are contracting the muscles correctly, you should be able to see your penis and scrotum lift up. When you relax your pelvic floor, you should see these parts drift back down.[4]
Building and maintaining a strong pelvic floor is crucial for women of all ages. The pelvic floor is a group of muscles at the bottom of your pelvis that supports the womb, bladder, and bowels. So if these muscles become weak—whether it's due to childbirth, pregnancy, aging, or weight gain—it may be challenging to control your bladder and bowel activity. This is referred to as incontinence, a condition that affects nearly 25 million Americans, 75% to 80% of which are women.
If you still do not feel these movements, you can try stopping the flow of urine when you are urinating. Feel the work that goes into that action, lifting muscles near your bladder, and try to mimic this movement when you do the exercises above. This is only recommended to try once as you are learning about the muscles. Do not repeat this as an exercise, or it can actually cause urinary problems.
Biofeedback is a modality that allows you to learn how to better control your muscles for optimal function. Biofeedback shows you what your muscles are doing in-real time. It is helpful to teach patients to lengthen and relax the pelvic floor for issues like general pelvic pain, painful sexual activity and constipation or to contract the pelvic floor in order to prevent leakage with activities like coughing, laughing, lifting, running or moving heavy objects. However, biofeedback does not demonstrate shortened muscles and tissues; therefore, in certain cases the biofeedback may seem to be within normal limits but yet the patient has 10/10 pain. In these incidences, manual palpation is more appropriate to identify restricted and shortened tissues and muscles, and myofascial trigger points.
But while “vaginal massage” is a general, nonspecific term, it may be used to treat the musculoskeletal system of the pelvic floor, notes Dr. Huang. Sometimes this may be internally through the vagina or anus, though the target isn’t the vagina itself, but rather the muscles. “Some muscles, like hip rotator and pelvic floor muscles, are better accessed internally,” she says. (Imbalances in other muscles like those found in the abdominal wall or hip girdle are best treated from the outside.)
As you can now see, there is so much out there that can be done for people suffering with pelvic floor dysfunction. This blog is by no means extensive, and there are even more options you and your physical therapist can explore to help manage your pain or other pelvic issues. Pelvic floor dysfunction requires a multidisciplinary approach for most of our patients. Hopefully, this blog helped to paint a picture of what you will experience with a pelvic floor physical therapist. We advise that you seek out an expert and experienced pelvic floor physical therapist in order to help better your life and improve your function.
Squats: Squats are a great holistic exercise because they engage many muscles at once. To do a body-weight squat, stand with your feet shoulder-width apart, then slowly bend your knees, dropping your hips and glutes down and back, keeping your back straight, as if you’re sitting down on a chair. (You can place your hands on your hips or stretch them out in front of you for balance.) Bend your knees until your thighs are parallel with the floor, then return to an upright position. Repeat 10 times, up to three times per day.
