The pelvic floor is an essential but often neglected and poorly understood part of the human body. Some people do not even know that they have one.
“We have never really taught on this subject,” said Dr. Sara Reardon, therapist of the Pelvic floor certified at the board and author of Flored: a Woman’s Guide to Pelvic Floor Health at each age and stage. “We really have no education on the functioning of these muscles and what is normal.”
The pelvic floor is “a basket of muscles that is at the base of your pool,” explains Reardon. He supports the pelvic organs: the intestine, the bladder and the uterus or the prostate. They in turn support the spine and play an important role in sexual health and urinary and fecal continence.
When the pelvic floor works well, we tend to hold it for granted, explains Dr. Ekene an Enemchukwu, urogynecologist and director of urology at the Stanford Pelvic Health Center. But when it does not work properly, “it can have a significant impact on features and quality of life,” she says.
Current pelvic floor disorders include urinary or fecal incontinence, prolapse of pelvic organs, pelvic pain and sexual dysfunction, explains Enemchukwu.
We asked the pelvic health experts what are the greatest myths on the pelvic floor and how to take care of yours.
Myth 1: Pelvic floor problems are a female problem
“Everyone has a pelvic floor – men, women, children,” said Reardon. The three main risk factors to develop pelvic floor disorders – pregnancy, birth and menopause – tend to affect women, but pelvic floor disorder is still common in men, explains Reardon.
Men with pelvic floor disorders can undergo urinary incontinence, fecal incontinence, rectal prolapse (chronic tension or constipation) and pelvic pain in tension in the pelvic floor muscles, explains Enemchukwu.
Even in people who do not feel pregnancy or childbirth, stress and tension in daily life can wreak havoc on the pool, explains Dr. Cassandra Kisby, urogynecologist and assistant teacher at the Duke university hospital. “The basin can respond to our environment, our emotions, our trauma,” she explains. “We present stress in our pelvic floor, and that affects its function.”
Myth 2: Pelvic floor disorders are inevitable
One of the biggest errors that people make about their pelvic floor health does not distinguish current and normal symptoms, Kisby explains.
“Many things that happen to the pelvic floor are common, but don’t need to be accepted as the norm,” she said.
Pelvic floor problems are extremely common. Urinary leaks, for example, affect around 50% of adult women and 75% of women over the age of 65. About 75% of women will feel pain during intercourse.
“I have women who come and say:” I have three babies, and I sometimes flee when I get away and I have to change my clothes, but it’s normal for my age. “” But it doesn’t have to be, says Kisby. “I really urge patients to think about the quality of life and what we can do on this subject because there are treatment options.”
Myth 3: Your doctor will be able to ask questions about the health of your pelvic floor
Patients often have to defend themselves with regard to pelvic health.
“Doctors do not hurry up women for these problems,” said Reardon. Because the pelvic floor affects so many body systems, it can also be difficult to know which doctor asking about this.
“Our medical world is so compartmentalized,” says Reardon. “There is a doctor who looks at the uterus, the one who looks at the colon, the one who looks at the bladder – but no one looks at the muscles, which is the intersection of all these things.”
People who look at these muscles are urogynecologists. But according to Kisby, “many women do not know what an urogynecologist is”.
“We must find ways to improve awareness, screening and access to multidisciplinary care,” explains Enemchukwu. “Patients do not need to suffer in silence.”
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Myth n ° 4: Kegels are always the answer
If someone has heard of the pelvic floor, he probably heard of Kegels.
The exercise is buzzing. Gwyneth Paltrow’s Goop sells several products related to Kegel. Celebrities boast of their Kegel routines. But according to the experts, the Kegels are not all and put an end to all public health. And for some, they could do more harm than good.
Kegels are a pelvic floor exercise in which the pelvic floor muscles are contracted. “He closes these urinary and anal sphincères and raises this basket of muscles,” explains Reardon.
The exercise shortens and tightens the muscle. It can be useful to find some strength after childbirth, or to fight against light cases of incontinence. But for some, pelvic floor problems are the result of the muscles already too tight and kegels only worsen symptoms.
For tension in the basin, Reardon recommends working on relaxation: “More yoga stretching, breathing, massaging the muscle internally and externally to release part of this tension,” she says.
But first talk to an expert.
“Ideally, care should be individualized and guided by a professional,” explains Enemchukwu.
Myth no 5: you can only solve pelvic floor problems when you are young
In some cases, pelvic floor injuries were present after their first occurrence.
“Many women have an injury to childbirth of a certain extent, and often this will temporarily improve during the initial healing that our body makes,” explains Kisby. But then patients come back 10 or 20 years later “when their symptoms begin to become greater”.
Fortunately, it is never too late to start working on Pelvic Floor Health, say the experts.
“Some people have the impression of living something for a long time, they are beyond help,” said Reardon. “But at any age, you can start working on it and you can get an improvement.”
