How can the vaginal, or
pelvic floor muscles move and stretch?
Not exact matches
This could be attributed to the restriction on a woman's ability to
move and change positions, or it could be due to the fact that an epidural relaxes the uterine and
pelvic floor muscles.
In much simpler words, the core is a collection of
muscles which stabilize and
move the spine, including the inner core (diaphragm,
pelvic floor, multifidus, cervical flexors and transverse abdominis) and the outer core (the rectus abdominis, spinal erectors, the obliques, quadratus lumborum and hip flexors).
Finally, use your breath to connect to your
pelvic floor muscles and scoop in your abs as you go through each
move.
This thoughtful, new way of
moving rewired my quad and rectus abdominis and pec dominant tendencies and got me into my deep core (transversus abdominis, multifidus, diaphragm,
pelvic floor), hamstrings, and intrinsic
muscles of the hip and shoulder and feet.
Moving into and out of a squat naturally activates your
pelvic floor and core
muscles, and most importantly strengthens the booty (thereby balancing the length and the work of the
pelvic floor muscles).
This will help
move the prolapsed organ (s) back into place and will allow you to more effectively isolate the
pelvic floor muscles.
The
moves in the video above should be safe as long as you're sure to engage your core
muscles from the bottom up (i.e. «zip up» from the
pelvic floor up through the low abs, rather than just «sucking in» the tummy), and as long as you exhale on exertion.
If we lived and
moved in these ways, most women would retain well - functioning
pelvic floor muscles (not to mention the rest of the body) into old age.
If we lived in an ideal society,
moving in the ways — and in the quantities — that humans were designed to
move, then our
pelvic floor muscles would NATURALLY be kept supple, vital, and strong.
I centralize most work from the
pelvic floor on up... always starting class with ab work on the
floor or the roller, having student feel their transverse abdominis as well as the complex
muscles of the
pelvic floor as stabilizers (allowing other body parts to
move safely and with ease) rather than doing crunches.
I can see that a woman who has under - used
pelvic floor muscles could benefit from Kegels, but once the woman's posture is optimised, and her
pelvic floor and other
muscles are actively engaged, these
muscles will exercise themselves with everyday movement, as the two halves of the pelvis
move forward and back with our gait, one foot then the other.
Now that you have a sense of how to stabilize side - lying exercises with your abdominal
muscles, back, and
pelvic floor working together, you might want to
move on to more challenging side - lying exercises like the side kick series.
Looking closer, I saw that she had significant weakness around her knee that was influencing the way she
moved, and leading to a compensatory «gripping» pattern in her
pelvic floor muscles to attempt to stabilize her hips and legs during movement.
Again, the perineum should
move slightly upward and inward as the
pelvic floor muscles contract, and return to its normal resting position when the
pelvic floor relaxes.
If kegels are appropriate for you and you decide to incorporate them into your fitness routine, remember that when strengthening your
pelvic floor muscles, you must ALSO focus on strengthening the rest of your core and
MOVING MORE in general.