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Old 03-06-17, 12:03 PM  
desie
 
Join Date: Nov 2001
Location: Canada
For me, if I try too hard with abdominal work, it weakens my pelvic floor muscles for a day or two. I think perhaps I hold my breath on a difficult last rep and put downward pressure on it. Something to consider, just a pattern I have noticed on myself.

Three pelvic floor exercises that helped me: sit on a firm but mashable small ball to stretch and release tight muscles around the perineum, sit on the floor with legs wide and feet flexed, and press down through the floor with your sitz bones so that you butt cheeks shrug upwards (if you have tight inner thighs you will have to stretch them first), and last, instead of the usual Kegel, tighten and lift through the back passage (imagine your butt is sucking a thick milkshake up through a straw). This last one really helps me fluff out the muscles around my sacrum and give my lower back more stability. If you look it up they talk about the multifidus muscles along the spine.

I worked my transverse abdominus and did the deep squats for a very long time but focusing on the milkshake lift actually made a quick difference for me.

I don't have a dvd recommendation, but when you are out and about, it's helpful to notice your posture, activate your transverse in concert with lifting through the pelvic floor, watch your breathing, etc.

Now, I did just a month ago write an email to a friend wanting some help with her pelvic floor, so if you have time, here is a recap:
Hey,

Here are some pelvic floor articles. Please don't be put off by some writers' focus on a flat tummy, they still have good info to share.

The pelvic floor has to coordinate with the transverse abdominus, multifidus muscles along the spine, and the diaphragm in order to support you and stabilize the spine and pelvis.. Problem is, after pregnancy, this coordinated unconscious effort is no longer happening, and you are probably using other muscles to support yourself (for example: quadratus lumborum, psoas, glute tuck, gripping muscles around the ribs and displacing them, tight unyielding inner thighs - everyone is unique!). These muscles can compensate for a long time, but as it's not their primary job, they will tire and be constantly, forever sore and obscenely tight until you reorganize. At first it will be difficult to reorganize because you have to re-make the mind-body connection, you will have to just lie still sometimes and listen to your breathing to try and get to notice which muscles to fire. Here is a quote from Jill Miller (Yoga Tune Up girl) just talking about this in general:

"Did you know that after your body is injured, it does everything in its power to not only protect the injury, but to also forget it? Without you even being aware, your body begins to tighten the surrounding tissues, forming a cast with the surrounding muscles and tendons. To avoid pain, your brain even decreases the number of nerve signals it sends to the muscles, sometimes to almost nothing. You may have felt this after spraining your ankle. Your hips or lower leg may feel tight as you change your walking pattern as the ankle heals. The chance of you reinjuring the ankle is much higher, because it’s as if your brain has completely forgotten it was ever attached to your leg!"

Next you will come up against the problem of the compensating muscles being reluctant to budge and resume their proper lengthened position where they are no longer doing the main supporting job.

Next you will probably overdo the undoing (create new tension problems), and have to fine tune where the balance point is - proper muscles are firing, no muscles are gripping. Once you sort this out to your satisfaction, you will notice an immediate increase in strength because the spine is being properly supported and no longer has to guard/create opposing tension to protect itself. And the continuing attention to your new posture will eliminate old bothersome aches and pains.

Katy Bowman (nutritious movement) has lots of enlightening info, I put in a few links of hers.

For myself, it really helped to stop butt-gripping, start using my transverse abdominus and multifidus in a coordinated way with my pelvic floor engaged (for my pelvic floor, focusing more on the milkshake lift (back passage: instead of a kegel, envision that you have a very thick milkshake, and you are going to suck it through a straw, up your wazoo. You can also try sitting on the floor with your legs spread wide: without changing position, lift and squeeze your buttocks so that they come up away from the floor)). And occasionally stretching my pelvic floor by sitting on a tennis ball (do one side at a time, goes between the sitz bone and the back passage). I already had strong glutes in my butt, it was just habitually tucked.

So, some links that I think explain and elucidate: Enjoy!

https://nutritiousmovement.com/you-dont-know-squat/

https://nutritiousmovement.com/1234-...-pelvic-floor/

https://nutritiousmovement.com/tootightpelvicfloor-2/

http://www.pelviennewellness.com/blo...ter-midsection

http://blog.wellnesstips.ca/blog/?p=487

http://dianelee.ca/article-butt-grippers.php

https://mutusystem.com/mutu-system-b...n-your-stomach

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X1A1zGD6pRM
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Old 03-06-17, 06:53 PM  
Donna D
 
Join Date: Dec 2008
Location: Western New York
Quote:
Originally Posted by zoetennessee View Post
Thank you all for responding. No, I don't have pelvic pain, I have lower back pain that a physical therapist is attributing to weak pelvic floor muscles. Again, thank you!!!!
Although I own nearly all of Katy Bowman's books and workouts, I can't say I'm a big fan of some of her work. Lannette is correct in saying that training the pelvic floor is anything but simple.

I too have been experiencing lower back pain which I thought could be related to the pelvic floor.

I highly recommend the HAB-IT program. The creator, Tasha Mulligan, has a wealth of information on her website - http://www.hab-it.com/

There is a section on FAQ, Education, and Ask Tasha.

Under frequently asked questions - please refer to question #13

These exercises remind me of low back exercises I learned last year. What is the difference between low back and pelvic floor rehabilitation exercises?

I find when I do the exercises on a regular basis that they were helping my lower back.

What is nice about the exercises is that you can quickly add on a couple of these to your daily routine. I like pilates mat work, so I easily add on a few exercises. Most days I do a short segment from a stability ball workout called "Bounce Your Way to Better Health". Since I'm already on the ball I'll do the inner thigh squeeze with a small ball.
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