What are the signs of a weak pelvic floor? Learn about Pelvic Floor Muscles with Pilates Dynamics

What are pelvic floor muscles?

The pelvic floor muscles give us the ability to control the release of urine, faeces, and the passing of wind – and to delay the process until it is convenient for us.
Why are the Pelvic floor muscles so important?
Apart from the above important functions like urinating, defecating and the passing of wind, the pelvic floor muscles support the bladder, uterus, and bowel. Pelvic floor muscles support incontinence of bladder and bowel prolapse and are also important for sexual function in males and females.
In males the Pelvic muscles are important for erectile function and ejaculation. In women, voluntary contractions (squeezing) of the pelvic floor contribute to sexual sensation and arousal. The pelvic floor muscles in women provides support for the baby during pregnancy.
The Pelvic floor muscles stabilizes the joints of the pelvis including the sacroiliac joint and provides support for the rectum, the prostate and urethra in males and the rectum, vagina, and urethra in females. Simultaneous contraction of the pelvic floor and the diaphragm also serves to maintain the abdominal contents in the abdominal-pelvic cavity.

What is the Anatomy of the pelvis?

The pelvic floor forms the base of the group of muscles commonly referred to as the “core”. These muscles stretch between the coccyx and front of the pelvis and between the lateral walls of the pelvis. These layers form a hammock from the pubic bone at the front to the tailbone at the back and spans and from one sitting bone to the other side, in other words “side-to-side”, hence the reference of a “hammock”.
The pelvic floor muscles are made up of slow (endurance) and fast twitch (power) fibres. It requires the combination of both slow and fast twitch fibres for the pelvic floor to work. It is also important to also understand the interrelationship between pelvic floor and abdominal muscles.
What is the relationship between pelvic floor and abdominal muscles?
Co-contraction of the abdominal muscles and the pelvic floor muscles are important when teaching pelvic floor exercises as abdominal muscle activity can assist pelvic floor activity.

The Pelvic floor muscles are made up of:

The Puborectalis, pubococcygeus, iliococcygeus and ischiococcygeus.
When abdominal muscles contract, the pelvic floor muscles responds in the following way;-
•The Pubococcygeus contracts with the transversus abs.
•The Iliococcygeus contracts with the obliques
•The Puborectalis contracts with the rectus abdominis.

What are Pelvic Floor Muscle Exercises?

The pelvic floor muscles can be trained with regular and specific exercises. Firstly, we need to understand how to correctly identify our pelvic floor muscles and to actively recruit these muscles prior to movement and exercise.
This is where Pilates come into the picture. Pilates is great for your pelvic floor, as it teaches you how to engage and strengthen it during every minute of your class. Pilates teaches you to activate your pelvic floor muscles prior to – and during exercise.

Do I need any previous Pilates experience to join a class?

Not at all! If you are a beginner, you can join Pilates classes. Prior to joining the Pilates group classes, we will set up a private Pilates class for you during which we will teach you the basics of Pilates, muscle recruitment and correct body alignment to prepare you for the Pilates group classes. Pilates group classes are small. We take a maximum of 8 people per class, to ensure quality training.
Should you need to do a few private classes prior to joining a group class, that can also be arranged.

How do I book Pilates classes at Pilates Dynamics?