For a few years now, the idea that the less trained the pelvic floor is, the easier childbirth is, has been demystified. It is now widely known that pelvic floor training aims to teach women how to control the movement of their bodies. Thus, a mother in process can relax or tense her muscles during the birth process.
Once the baby is born, it is the time when you have to take more care of the pelvic floor. This factor is decisive for a prompt and correct recovery of the birth canal, which suffers a lot during the birth process. Although it is true that we already know a few things about this set of muscles, it is still very common to say that the way to exercise it is by squeezing and releasing the sphincter. As each woman is different, each one must learn to listen to her body, interpret what it says and feel what the pelvic floor really is.
The first step of all is to know what the pelvic floor exactly is, what function it has, and where it is located. The pelvic floor is a set of three muscular layers found at the base of the pelvis, and its main function is to support the viscera of the abdomen and pelvis. All of this is, in addition, directly connected to the muscles of the abdomen and back. Thus, we understand that the pelvic floor acts as a corset, along with the rest of the set of muscles that make up the core system: the abdomen, diaphragm, obliques, lumbar muscles and pelvic floor. Our protagonist muscle today is like any other, it needs training to not weaken, since if we do not do so, we can suffer a series of consequences, such as urinary incontinence in moments of effort such as a sneeze or a fit of laughter, pain in the back area, difficulties during sexual relations, or prolapse (displacement of intra-abdominal organs), among other events.
And the question is, when should we start exercising our pelvic floor? The ideal response would be to start training it as soon as you know its existence, like any other muscle. However, in cultural matters, talking about genital self-examination is a taboo topic. Therefore, it is usual to begin training the pelvic floor prior to childbirth, that is, during the gestation period. Control of the pelvic floor means that, when facing childbirth, you have the ability to help the baby in the process, being able to contract or relax the muscles at will. If you didn't know about its existence, or you knew about it but you don't know how to exercise it, don't worry. As a general rule, women learn to control the pelvic floor through courses taught by obstetrics experts, with the aim of reducing the risk of postpartum incontinence as much as possible.
During the final phase of the birth process, the pelvic floor suffers large pressure spikes caused by the baby's head trying to force its way out, and this causes the pelvic floor to give way. If the woman giving birth has good pelvic floor training, she will be able to gain elasticity. Being able to relax the muscle during the process helps reduce injuries. This is why we can, thanks to pelvic floor training, reduce to a minimum the performance by health professionals of the perineal incision, which consists of separating part of the pelvic floor.
Once we have gone through the process of giving birth, we enter the puerperium state, which is the two weeks after delivery. During this period, our body is recovering from a revolution inside, and therefore also the pelvic floor. That is why we always recommend paying attention to specialists in the matter, since the uterus is in the process of contraction and is gradually healing. Those women who have undergone a perineal incision, or a cesarean delivery, will have to take special care during recovery so that the wound can undergo the healing process correctly. It is essential that during the first two or three weeks of the postpartum period you know what is the best position for the pelvic floor and for the back when standing with the baby. As we already know that each woman is different, and that each one has her own recovery process, you can calmly begin with gentle exercises to tone the deep muscles, which include, for example, controlled breathing exercises. As soon as you feel ready, you can begin to intensify the exercises. The more regularly these training sessions occur, the sooner the recovery of the previous strength of the pelvic floor will be. When intensifying these exercises, we must also include the set of abdominal and back muscles, since they work together to retain the viscera. At the moment in which the connective tissue recovers completely, which is usually around the sixth week postpartum, you can begin to perform more complete and demanding training, which includes all muscle areas.
The importance of pelvic floor training goes beyond the present. The benefits of performing exercises focused on the pelvic floor drastically reduce urinary, sexual and other problems beyond old age, so, even if we think that we do not have time to do these types of exercises, we recommend making time to, at least, receive advice and guidelines from professionals through childbirth preparation courses. Then, knowing the methodology of the exercise routine, you can continue doing it at home.
Finally, we would like to insist on the importance of a strengthened pelvic floor, not only for women who want to be mothers, but also for those who want to ensure maturity free of “leaks” and impeccable sexual health. If, in the event that elasticity has been lost in the pelvic floor, and despite training it does not improve, we recommend consulting with a specialist. Do you have any experience regarding today's topic? If you want to give your opinion, leave us a comment on this article, and share knowledge with other Asalvo readers.
