Protecting your pelvic floor

Pelvic Health: Everything You Need to Know

Dareen Alzoubi PT,DPT.

1. Activities of daily living, exercising and lifting:

It’s important to contract your pelvic floor muscles before you do any type of activity or exercises or lifting:

• Sit to stand

• Stand to sit

• Rolling in bed

• Bending forward to pick up something from the floor.

• Squatting

• Carrying the baby, laundry basket, etc.

It’s also important to breath out (exhale) during the effort to prevent any increase in the pressure inside your abdomen that causes abnormal pressure on the pelvic floor.

2. Voiding and bowel movement:

• During voiding and bowel movement, it’s very important to relax your pelvic floor muscles.

• Avoid straining, it will cause abnormal pressure on your pelvic floor.

• Do not hover.

• Lean forward or rock the pelvis 2 to 3 times to encourage elimination and PFM relaxation and/ or repositioning of prolapse.

• Double voiding techniques: after completing voiding, stand up, then sit down and try to void again.

3. Sneezing/ coughing:

Always contract your pelvic floor muscles before and during sneezing and coughing.

4. Splinting:

To decrease perineal descent, support the perineal body during defecation, or use

fingers inside the vagina on the posterior wall to lift superiorly and/or posteriorly during BM.