The pelvic floor is the sling of muscles at the bottom of your pelvis that plays a huge role in your overall function (and childbirth). The pelvic floor provides support in a number of ways:
Core Stabilization: the pelvic floor is the foundation of your core canister, and works with the rest of your deep core musculature to help stabilize the spine and core.
Continence: the pelvic floor helps to maintain sphincter control and keep things like urine inside but also can relax to allow us to use the restroom.
Pelvic Organ Support: the pelvic floor supports your pelvic organs, the uterus, bladder, and rectum.
Sexual Function: the pelvic floor can relax to allow you to engage in intercourse and also supports childbirth!
Sump pump: the pelvic floor can help with lymphatic drainage.
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How does the pelvic floor move??
The pelvic floor, similar to other muscles in our body, has a range of motion that it moves through for optimal function. The pelvic floor can:
Lengthen (eccentrically loading)
Relax (midrange position, able to respond to demand in any direction)
Shorten (concentric activation)
It is important for the pelvic floor to maintain its full range of motion for optimal function. If the pelvic floor has a high resting tone or is shortened all the time, it cannot generate power; resulting in less coordination with the rest of the deep core musculature. The pelvic floor is one gear in the overall system, so it functions sub-optimally, then you may experience pelvic floor issues such as incontinence, or leaking urine when you don’t want to; pain during intercourse; or even difficulty during childbirth.
Think about your bicep. If you only moved your bicep from 90-degree to the shoulder, once you need to extend the arm fully, you would likely fail the task or need to severely compensate to accomplish the task. Therefore, you want your arm to fully lengthen (eccentrically load), come to rest at midrange position (90-degree angle), and then shorten to the shoulder. This would be the full range of motion of the bicep!
Tips to Connect with Your Pelvic Floor
1. Internal or External Feedback
You can use your hand either placed externally on the perineal area, or with clean fingers inserted inside your vagina to feel how your pelvic floor moves.
During inhalations, the pelvic floor should lengthen and push down. You may feel an increase in pressure in the vagina or the anus (ideally you feel an increase in pressure in both). When the pelvic floor lengthens, you should feel it move downwards into your hand, or your finger may move deeper inside your vagina. The lengthening portion of the range of motion tends to be the most challenging. We tend to not be used to expanding, and taking up more space, especially with the societal pressure to be as small as possible and emphasis on all the kegels during our adult life so we are “nice and tight.”
During exhalations, we have two options. The pelvic floor can either relax and release and come back to its midrange position. When trying to relax the pelvic floor, think how it feels when you sit on the toilet to use the restroom; we tend to relax our pelvic floor on the toilet. Another cue can be to think about how it feels when you release a fart; that state is also relaxation!
Or the pelvic floor could contract and lift up, squeezing your fingers or moving away from your hand. When you do a pelvic floor contraction, your glutes should not be clenching. Helpful pelvic floor contraction cues could include:
Think like you’re picking up a blueberry with your vagina, without crushing it.
Think like you’re trying to drink through a straw with your vagina.
Squeeze your butthole.
Try to bring the pubic bone (front of your pelvis) to your tailbone (back of your pelvis).
2. Biofeedback Devices (and extra support)
Biofeedback devices are inserted vaginally and can help provide immediate feedback on what is happening in the pelvic floor.
Biofeedback devices can help you better connect certain sensations and actions with relaxation, lengthening, and contracting. Sometimes part of the problem is that we are not sure what we are feeling for, or what relaxation/contraction even feels like! This tool can help you identify what different sensations mean
Biofeedback tools can also help you understand if you are compensating when trying to contract (such as clenching your glutes) and how strong your contraction is. Some pelvic floor physical therapy practices will use biofeedback as a method to help someone connect with how their pelvic floor moves.
But biofeedback tools usually require some support and guidance on how to use them!
Flyte is a device that you can use at home AND it comes with professional support through their free Ask a PT program, partnerships with a virtual pelvic PT group, educational blog articles, newsletter with tips, and pelvic floor podcast Pelvic Floor at Its Core.
Flyte is the in-between for those of us who want to focus on moving their pelvic floor correctly, strengthening (if that’s the right choice for them – and Flyte can help you know if this is the case), and receiving excellent customer care and options for referral and resources without having to do it on their own (biofeedback) or make it into a clinic (if that’s not possible for them – far travel distance, childcare, financials, etc).
The Flyte: Connect with Your Pelvic Floor Device
Flyte is a biofeedback AND mechanotherapy device. It’s actually the only device that exists for the pelvic floor that uses mechanotherapy. It pairs mechanosignals (gentle oscillations/pulses that feel like a slight vibration but at 30 Hz instead of 140 Hz like a vibrator for sensation purposes) with a pelvic floor contraction to increase the impact of a Kegel by 39x. Essentially it’s adding load to the pelvic floor directly by using mechanosignals to impact the muscle cells to increase tone and strength.
Flyte can be used at home and is easy to set up! Use code MAMASTEFIT for $25 off your Flyte device! I found it really easy to set up and use! The device vibrates to help cue me where to focus my efforts, and the lights help me understand the strength of my pelvic floor activations. I felt more connected with my pelvic floors movement after using the device.
3. Pelvic Floor Physical Therapy
If you feel unsure, seeing a professional could help a ton! A pelvic floor physical therapist can assess how your pelvic floor moves and can also talk you through what sensations you are trying to feel like your pelvic floor moves.
Many of my clients find that seeing a pelvic floor physical therapist towards the end of their pregnancy for some feedback on what to feel during a perineal massage or while pushing helps them a ton in preparation for birth.
A pelvic floor physical therapist may also incorporate a lot of the techniques discussed in this blog to help you better connect with your pelvic floor!
There are lots of in-person and virtual options to work with a pelvic floor PT! Flyte has a free Ask a PT program and virtual physical therapy options, plus tons of blogs and free resources on their website!
Want to find an in-person PT near you? Check out: pelvicrehab.com for a directory of pelvic health professionals. Unsure how to ask your provider for a referral?? Check out our blog on some tips!