Did you know that no matter what treatment option you choose for your pelvic floor dysfunction, it is always recommended that you follow up that treatment with an exercise program to strengthen your pelvic floor muscles.

If you choose surgery, it is important to strengthen your pelvic floor muscles following the procedure to support the work that was done and, hopefully, increase the length of time the sling or mesh may be effective.

If you choose a pessary device, you want to continue to strengthen your pelvic floor muscles and monitor your posture to decrease your dependence on the device.  You may … Continue Reading

I thought I would write a bit about swimming because whether you are pregnant, just delivered, or well beyond those points in your life, swimming is a great exercise choice.  It is simply a fantastic way to get your heart rate up and strengthen muscles through non-impact activity.

I love this exercise choice because it promotes extension.  I have blogged extensively about the importance of working the muscles on the back side of our bodies.  If you think about it, everything that we do throughout our day is out in front of our body.  This tendency to work our flexors and … Continue Reading

Did you know that if you don’t extend your tail bone, your pelvic floor will never fire with optimal strength?  A tucked under tail bone takes our pelvic floor, which attaches at our tail bone and our pubic bone, and makes it slack.  And, over time, this loose muscle responds poorly and becomes weak because we are never able to fully activate all of the fibers because our two attachments sites are sitting too close together. 

If we extend our tail bone, giving it a slight lift, we put our pelvic floor muscles at the perfect length/tension ratio where it can … Continue Reading

The symptoms of incontinence can vary from person to person.  Some may experience minor leaking every once in awhile, while others may experience complete loss of bladder control daily.  There are also different kinds of incontinence, the two most common being “urge incontinence” and “stress incontinence.”  Let’s take a closer look at the differences between these two types of incontinence. 

We will first define “stress urinary incontinence.”  It is the involuntary loss of urine as a result of increased intra-abdominal pressure from activities such as laughing, coughing, sneezing, or jumping.

And the definition of “urge incontinence” is the involuntary loss of urine … Continue Reading

Experiencing incontinence can be life-changing.  In order to better manage your symptoms, there are some lifestyle changes that you can make to give yourself the opportunity for better control.

The first lifestyle change is to quit smoking.  The harmful effects of cigarette smoking have been well documented.  It is the secondary effects such as incontinence that are often overlooked.  The chronic cough associated with cigarette smoking significantly increases the pressure on our pelvic floor muscles and, over time, can lead to incontinence.  Also, the poor oxygenation of muscular and connective tissue associated with cigarette smoking has a direct impact on the … Continue Reading

I recently read through two different sites with the bloggers writing about how Kegels are worthless.  If I could delete these entries just as quick as I read them, I would so that it didn’t cause any more confusion for all of you searching for answers.  Do I agree that pelvic floor strengthening has been over-simplified – YES!  But to say that you don’t have to do another Kegel is simply not correct.  Our pelvic floor is a muscular area with the ability to tighten on the urethra (the pathway from the bladder to our urethral opening in our pelvic … Continue Reading

It is important to develop a strategy to help you manage your incontinence.  This may include special clothing or the use of devices that will allow you to continue with normal activities as well as any recreational activities you choose to participate in.  We will review four strategies that can help you to manage your incontinence.

The first management strategy is use of a pessary device.  A pessary is a small latex or silicone device, similar to a diaphragm, that you insert into your vaginal canal to give better support to your bladder and urethra.  The goal is to hold your … Continue Reading

I can hardly contain my excitement. I just sat down with the latest issue of Inside Triathlon (March/April 2010) magazine and came across an article by Torbjorn Sindballe. He was writing about body balance and alignment, and how that can affect race results. I was intrigued because this follows along with my beliefs, as I have written about, how posture can affect the efficiency of our musculosketletal system, our lung expansion, our bone health, our pelvic floor function, and more.

As I continued to read, he addressed something that had completely changed his training: a focus on … Continue Reading

How do you know if you have a prolapse? Some urogynocologists go as far as to say that every woman will experience some degree of prolapse in their lives. A prolapse? What exactly is it, what causes it, what can I do to prevent it or resolve it? I wanted to use this blog to talk about all of these questions surrounding prolapse because so many of us have or will experience the symptoms.

Let’s take it one question at a time. What does a prolapse feel like? For some it may feel like a soft, round … Continue Reading

I was asked a great question the other day regarding Kegel exercises and the confusion caused from some recommendations to complete 80+ repetitions per day vs. my recommendation to complete only 8-10 repetitions per day.

This is a fantastic question and it highlights the difference between the complete 2-step Kegel that is the key to resolving your incontinence and the “quick flick” Kegel that only works one action of our pelvic floor muscles. Knowing the difference between these two approaches is very important in rehabilitating pelvic floor muscles.

First, let me describe the quick flick Kegel. It is simply tightening … Continue Reading