6 Exercises to Improve Your Pelvic Floor Right Now!
Like any of your muscles, the pelvic floor can be trained and strengthened so that it can work better.
The saying “you use it, or you lose it” definitely applies here.
If your pelvic floor muscles aren’t strong and working properly you could be at risk for issues such as urinary leakage, low back pain, pelvic organ prolapse, chronic pelvic pain, and more!
By strengthening your pelvic floor muscles, you can decrease your chances of developing these pelvic floor related issues, decrease your chances of developing injuries, and most importantly, live a pain-free, happy, and better life.
What Is the Pelvic Floor?
Before we get into talking about pelvic floor exercises, let’s talk about what the pelvic floor is.
The pelvic floor is a group of muscles that run your tailbone at the back of your body all the way to the pubic bone at the front of your body.
This is a group of muscles that is found in all genders. These muscles support your pelvic organs, which include your bladder, uterus/prostate, and rectum.
The pelvic floor also works with your abs, back muscles, and breathing muscles to control breathing, help balance the pressure in your body, and protect your spine. This set of muscles is known as the inner core. See the post below for what it looks like!
Okay, Got It! What Are Pelvic Floor Exercises?
After going over what the pelvic floor is and what it does, we can see that the pelvic floor is a pretty important structure in your body!
Pelvic floor exercises help the pelvic floor get STRONGER and WORK BETTER.
These pelvic floor exercises are unique because these muscles aren’t obviously visible, like when you do a squat for building your leg muscles or a shoulder press for building your shoulder muscles.
Breathing and posture also play a big role in pelvic floor exercises because the pelvic floor helps to control these systems.
I’m Interested In Learning About Exercises To Improve My Pelvic Floor!
The pelvic floor is a group of muscles that everyone has. This means that ANYONE and EVERYONE can benefit from pelvic floor exercises!
that you can do at home that can help you strengthen and improve your pelvic floor today!
Below are six effective exercises that you can do that are in order from easiest to harder exercises. Give them a try to improve your pelvic floor!
6 Exercises You Can Do to Improve Your Pelvic Floor Right Now!
1. Breathing Exercises
Your pelvic floor works closely with your breathing muscles to help you breathe properly. But did you know that many people take shallow breaths so that they aren’t getting good airflow into their body?
Here’s a test to see if you’re a shallow “chest” breather or a deep “diaphragm” breather:
- Lie down on your back and put one hand on your chest and the other one on your stomach above your belly button.
- Take a deep breath into your nose.
Did your top hand or your bottom hand move more?
If your top hand moved more, you may breathe more from your chest which limits airflow into your body. Try this breathing exercise below to help you get better airflow and breathe better.
- Lay down on a resistance band and tie it around your body.
- Inhale and try to push your stomach out and stretch the band. If you don’t have a band, you can do this with your hand pressed firmly on your stomach.
See the post below for a video on how to check your breathing. Click the right arrow on the post to see a demonstration of the breathing exercise
2. Pelvic Floor Stretching
Now that you’ve got the breathing down, let’s pair this breathing with positions to relax and open through your pelvis.
Here are four pelvic floor stretches to help you relax.
- Leaning over the counter
- Butterfly legs
- Happy baby
- Child’s pose
See the post below and click the arrow in the post to see what each of these stretches look like.
3. Single Straight Leg Raise
Having a strong core is super important in helping to make your pelvic floor work better and decrease your chances of developing back pain.
- Lie down on your back next to a doorway. Make sure that you position yourself so that the doorway is between your knee and hip.
- Place your arms relaxed by your sides with your palms facing up.
- Lift your leg that’s closest to the door frame. Make sure that your knees are straight, and your toes are pointed up towards the ceiling.
- Your other legs, both arms, and head should stay on the ground throughout this entire movement.
- Now compare how high you were able to get this leg up with your other side!
See the post below for how to set up and perform this straight leg raise. This is a good exercise to strengthen your core and help the pelvic floor work better.
4. Double Straight Leg Raise
If that one was too easy for you, try this double straight leg raise.
- Lie down on your back. Make sure that your head and arms stay on the ground throughout this exercise.
- Lift both legs up together as far as you can without your low back lifting up from the floor.
- Slowly lower both legs at the same time.
- See how far you can lower both legs without letting your back lift off the ground!
This exercise is an advanced version of the single straight leg raise. As you can see, lifting up two legs is definitely harder than one.
5. Planks
Planks are another great exercise to work on the strength and control of both your abs and your pelvic floor at the same time.
Here’s 3 plank modifications from easiest to hardest. Try them out in order and choose the one that’s not too easy and not too hard.
- Easy: standing plank
- Medium: forearm and knee plank
- Hard: hands and feet plank
See the post below for what each of these exercises look like. Click the arrow in the post to see the easy, medium, and hard modifications.
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6. Lunges and Squats
Now that you activated your pelvic floor and core control, let’s try making it a bit harder!
Light impact squat jumps are a good way to start working your way back to more high impact activities.
- Start in a standing position with your feet shoulder width apart
- Bend your knees and jump straight up. You want to land with your feet bent.
- Straighten your legs and do another one!
Split squats are a good exercise to work on your one-sided balance.
- Start in a standing position facing away from a chair
- Place your back leg onto the chair and your leg slightly in front of you.
- Push down into the heel of your front leg while keeping your core strong. Make sure that your front knee doesn’t go past your toes.
- Push up from the heel in your front leg to return to standing.
A drop jump with rebound is another good exercise to work on returning to high impact exercise moves.
- Start in a standing position on a step about 4-6” high.
- Jump down the step with one foot leading first and the other one following behind while making sure your knees are bent.
- With your knees bent, jump straight up and land on the floor with your knees bent.
- Return to standing. Step back onto the step and return to your starting position.
See the post below and click the arrow in the post to see what the exercises look like in order.
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Wanting More Exercises?
Everyone is unique and has a different pelvic floor. Some people can benefit more from stretching and relaxation, and others can benefit more from strengthening exercises.
A pelvic floor physiotherapist is a trained professional that specializes in assessing and treating your pelvic floor.
These pelvic floor experts can assess you to check the state of your pelvic floor and give you effective exercises to address your specific pelvic floor needs and reduce your symptoms.
Your pelvic floor physiotherapist can help you return to pain-free exercise, get rid of your urinary leakage, and eliminate your low back and pelvic pain.
Our pelvic floor physiotherapist Lauren says, “pelvic floor physiotherapy is important, and can benefit people from all walks of life,” and we couldn’t agree more!
Book an appointment with a pelvic floor physiotherapist or try a free 20-minute consultation to help you return to a happier and more confident life.
This blog was written by Anna Zhang, a Physiotherapy student at University of Toronto.
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FAQs
Should I Be Doing Kegels?
Kegels are an exercise that help strengthen the pelvic floor. However, kegels may or may not be appropriate for your specific health needs depending on some factors such as the condition you have, if you’re able to perform them correctly, and how often you’re doing them. In fact, kegels can make some pelvic floor conditions worse. For example, some people with urinary leakage have OVERACTIVE pelvic floor muscles so strengthening and activating these muscles can your urinary leakage even worse.
A trained pelvic floor physiotherapist can help assess your pelvic floor to determine if kegels are appropriate for your specific condition. In addition, they can provide other treatments to help with your pelvic floor condition.
Can a Physiotherapist Help With Pelvic Floor Exercises?
Yes! Pelvic floor physiotherapists are physiotherapists that are trained in assessing and treatment the pelvic floor. Pelvic floor physiotherapists have a master’s degree in physiotherapy and have taken post-graduate courses to specifically learn about how to effectively treat a variety of different pelvic health issues. Your pelvic floor physiotherapist is knowledgeable and skilled to help you treat your pelvic health issue with pelvic floor exercises and other types of treatment.
When Will My Pelvic Pain Go Away?
Pelvic floor physiotherapy can help you find relief from your pelvic pain. It’s important to note that everyone’s condition and body is unique, so our pelvic floor physiotherapist will work together with you and your physician to develop a plan to eliminate your pelvic pain. We’ll discuss this plan with you at your first treatment session. We’ll always strive to improve your condition and reduce your pain in the least number of treatments possible to effectively help your symptoms and improve your quality of life.
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