pelvic floor

 

Months after having a baby I noticed some pelvic floor weakness. What the heck? I'm a physical therapist, so I expect my body to be strong, everywhere! So, that got my professional gears turning and I turned all my focus to the pelvic floor. I found that doing kegels did not make any real difference in my pelvic floor strength, so I had to dig deeper. The more I focused on how the rest of the body either encouraged the pelvic floor to work or discouraged I got stronger, fast. Then, I applied everything at work! The feedback I got from my clients was amazing. It even amazed me.

Fast forward 6 years and I've not only helped 1,000s of women with prolapse, leaking and pelvic floor pain and tightness but also provided cutting edge education to over 900 professionals so they can better help women overcome pelvic floor issues.

The V-Core Lift Essential Program review

Please keep in mind, these are for people suffering from mild sneeze-pee issues or simply don't trust their pelvic floor to hold when placed under stress, like running or jumping. If you have prolapse or pelvic pain, these are probably a bit advanced to start with, but just because these are advanced, it doesn't mean you won't gain some valuable knowledge from reading below!

Many women at various stages in life have concerns about their pelvic health. Over the past 25 years, great strides have been made in the understanding of how the organs are positioned in our bodies. The abdominal and pelvic cavity structure includes: • Breathing diaphragm on the top • Pelvic floor muscles (those engaged when doing Kegel exercises) on the bottom • Abdominal muscles on the sides and front Attention to intra-abdominal pressure is important to protect weak areas such as the pelvic floor muscles. Pelvic floor exercises have been shown to decrease POP symptoms in several studies. Women with POP are often advised to avoid certain types of exercises and activities in an effort to minimize excessive downward pressure and to protect the pelvic floor. Studies show number of pregnancy and vaginal delivery, estrogen loss of menopause, heavy lifting, hard foot-strike fitness activities, chronic constipation, chronic coughing, diastatis rectus abdominus (long abdominal muscle stretches during pregnancy), hysterectomy, genetics, neuromuscular diseases such as Ehlers Danlos and Marfan, and a high body mass index are risk factors for POP. However, many causal factors remain actively debated in the medical community. As with many healthcare topics, women turn to the internet to seek information and guidance regarding POP. An abundance of websites now offer programs that include POP awareness and education, as well as exercises deemed to be safe for the pelvic floor. However, research on this topic is inconclusive making it difficult to determine the safest and most appropriate approach for women with POP. Purpose The goal of this project was to review and grade websites that teach pelvic organ prolapse safe exercises based on current research and combined clinical expertise. A task force of six pelvic physical therapists reviewed the websites. The resulting report is intended to assist patients in choosing POP safe exercises. Method A system for categorizing and grading the website content was developed including 6 topics, graded separately with a comment section provided for clinician reviewers, as well as a section to enable a detailed description of programs. Value was placed on realistic expectations, self-assessment, individualization of programs, and instructions to seek supervision from qualified professionals if symptoms worsen, thereby ensuring correct and safe performance of the exercises. See Table A for topics included in the grading system.