What’s All The Rage With Pelvic Floor Wellness? Here’s My Story With Graphs

Why do you think there is a huge market for adult diapers? It’s not just for people over 70 or with health issues. Did you know that in other countries after women give birth it is standard for them to be referred to pelvic floor specialists or physiotherapists? American women are left to fend for ourselves. Urinary incontinence isn’t just for women so read on if you are a man! You can use some of these insights & tips too.

The pelvic floor muscles are suspended from our pubic bones to our coccyx (tailbone), and they play a major part in our bowel, bladder, sexual and spinal function.  When they have normal muscle tone, they allow us to stay continent or Dry.  Strong pelvic floor muscles also contribute to orgasm and a healthy sex life.  Additionally, when our pelvic floor muscles are functioning well, they keep our pelvis in alignment.  All of these areas can be affected if the pelvic floor muscles are weak or damaged from pregnancy or childbirth. For some people, like myself it’s not about having strong muscles down there but rather being able to relax them. I mean if you are flexing and bracing all the time then when you actually need to use them for running or a surprise sneeze and they are tired you are gonna leak! Makes sense to me.

Foundational Concepts website sited that Nearly 70% of women experience some degree of perineal tearing with childbirth (perineal: more of a fibro-muscular tendon of sorts).  Can you think of any other muscle tear in the body that wouldn’t warrant a direct referral to Physical Therapy???  …..the answer is NO.

Many of our women personal training clients couldn’t jump on the mini-trampoline Energy Fitness had for years or jump rope without putting a pad on because they were concerned with leaking. These were women in their 30s and 40s mind you.

Nobody wants to talk about it, much less admit it that they have urinary leakage.

Well as many of you know I am not afraid to speak my mind and especially if it’s health information that can help someone be more active and more confident.

A few months ago when I would run my 4 mile runs twice a week I had gray spandex on and noticed within 2 miles I had peed on myself and not just a few drops. It was obvious that bypassers would have clearly been able to look at my crotch area and be “what the heck!” as it was very obvious for me. This would normally happen just before my cycle for a few months so maybe a little hormonal. I made an appointment with a new OB/GYN I was referred to. Well, I must tell you that I wasn’t as impressed as I thought I would be, considering the nurse that referred me to her was her raving fan. This is what I heard her say in not exact terms but pretty much “Well, as we get older things just start to shift and drop and there’s not much you can do for it. You should try doing kegels 4-5 times when you pee and hold for 3-4 seconds to increase your muscle tone. Our skin gets thinner and we lose muscle tone, etc. I will refer you to a pelvic floor specialist.” She was talking to me like I was way older and I’m just shy of 50. Not cool or appreciated! When I did go to the specialist she was shaking her head that the OB/GYN told me to do this as that’s only for people to learn what a kegel is in the first place and def not a therapy to solve incontinence issues.

I was apprehensive about going to see a specialist but I wanted more to stop peeing on myself. I had 4 or 5 appointments total with amazing results and highly recommend.

Here’s what I learned and can pass on to men and women.

The first appointment she had to get up close, personal and gloved hand assessment of your starting point so she could make a plan. She asked me about how much water I drank, how often I went to the bathroom, my diet, my exercise habits.

• Did you know when you first feel the urge to urinate that your bladder is only 60% full?
• A full bladder s about 10 ounces
• Did you know that a healthy urination cycle (unless you just downed a ton of fluid) is going to the bathroom no more frequent than 2 to 4 hours. Going less than is not training your bladder muscles to be strong or be relaxed as well.
• Try to eliminate the “just in case” bathroom trip when you are leaving the house or near a bathroom and you really don’t have the urge to go but go anyway because you don’t know when another bathroom might be available.
• We all have triggers for bathroom trips such a garage door opening, walking into your house, passing a bathroom, running water. Recognize those triggers and if it’s less than the 2 hour mark then do 10 “quick flick” kegels to override the detrusor muscle. The detrusor muscle is located within the walls of the bladder and is composed of smooth muscle fibers that are longitudinal and circular.
• No more hovering above public toilets to pee ladies as it’s so bad for pelvic health.
• There are specific stretches like happy baby, pigeon pose and child’s pose great for helping to relax the pelvic floor.

The second and consecutive appointments she put tiny electrodes on my rectum and a ground one on my hip. Not the most fun to be had for sure. I asked how her men clients felt about this process. She had the electrodes attached to a laptop with a software program that tested tone in real time. She tested it lying down, sitting up and standing. The images below are showing kegels then a relaxed state. The average “resting tone” is suppose to be 1.5 to 2 in a lying or sitting position. Mine was 5. This was my second appointment which the electrodes as I was to mortified to take pics the first time. I said to her “So basically you are saying there is scientific proof that I’m a tight ass!”. lol

I needed to learn to relax as years and years of tightening my abs and core and getting up in the night to pee 3 times needed to stop and now I am proud to report only 1-2 times nocturnal urination AND more importantly no peeing on myself during runs or sneezes.

I’ve learned to notice when I feel like I am tensing up and relax. I mean do you need to stay flinched when you are washing dishes, NO!

You can see by the 2nd picture below I have learned to know what it feels like to be relaxed and this can help teach my body now and years in the future what a new normal should feel like. I have video too but I decided I would spare my readers.

Reach out to a pelvic floor specialist if you think you need it. Be the best you can be and leave the pee in the toilet.