PELVIC FLOOR MANAGEMENT FOR WOMEN

What are the pelvic floor muscles?

Pelvic floor muscles form a muscular floor across the pelvis running from back to front and in from the sides.

They are like a hammock holding up organs like the bladder, the uterus (womb) and the intestines.

Signs of poor pelvic floor muscle tone.

Incontinence (wetting) when coughing, sneezing, jogging/jumping, on the way to the bathroom after getting up from lying down)

Inability to keep tampons in place

Vaginal flatus (wind)

What to do to strengthen the pelvic floor muscles.

1. Practice tightening the muscles around the anus. Imagine that you are tightening the anus as if to prevent passing wind.

2. Practice tightening the muscles around the entrance of the vagina. Imagine you have a tampon in the vagina and it is slipping out. Tighten the muscles in the vagina to pull it up. To test the strength, place two (clean) fingers in the vagina and tighten the pelvic floor muscles squeezing the fingers. Feel the tightening and lifting effect.

3. Practice tightening and pulling up the muscles around your front passage (urethra). Imagine that you are tightening the muscles as if to stop yourself urinating. Test this strength by stopping the flow of urine midstream (only very briefly) when urinating. Only do this occasionally as a test. If done regularly it may cause urine to be retained.

4. Practice tightening and drawing in strongly the muscles around the anus, vagina and urethra all at once. Hold for 5 seconds, relax for 15 seconds. Repeat 3 times or do regularly throughout the day.

Do these daily .......... for the rest of your life!

You can do these exercises

standing in a queue
sitting while driving or on a bus
while watching television
anytime in any posture - sitting, standing, lying down

Note

Do your pelvic floor exercises daily
Don't accept incontinence - it doesn't have to be
Do some regular exercise - walking is good
Encourage a friend to do pelvic floor exercises too