Or, Pelvic Floor Rehab Doesn’t Need to Be Boring!
So your pelvic floor seems to be failing you. Maybe you are leaking urine when you run (stress incontinence), maybe you are now having to run to make it to the toilet (urge incontinence), or maybe things feel heavy and bulgy down there (could be a prolapse).
You’ve been told by well-meaning health professionals you shouldn’t be running, lifting, straining, doing sit-ups, bending, or even daring to move without making sure you have your pelvic floor zipped up and locked on.
In fact, you are even in danger of losing urine with laughing now. Talk about sucking the joy out of life!
Yikes! Life has never felt so dangerous. There seem to be so many activities that seem to put pressure on the pelvic floor!
Well, I have more bad news for you. (But don’t worry, I will then follow it up with some delightful news.)
The bad news is that other seemingly benign activities also put pressure on your pelvic floor – activities like walking, getting out of the chair, and prolonged standing. (And, as I mentioned, laughing!)
I talk to women every day who feel like anything physical is now off the agenda. But at least you can sing without any qualms, right?
Wrong. Singing, like any forced exhalation, also potentially places pressure on your pelvic floor.
The good news is that singing is also a wonderful method for rehabilitating the pelvic floor.
Good singing technique involves coordinated activity of the diaphragm, deep abdominal muscles and – yes, you guessed it – the pelvic floor muscles.
So doing some vocal exercises commonly used in singing training can be a fabulous way to rehabilitate pelvic floor and abdominal function with all forced exhalation activities, including coughing, laughing, sneezing, nose blowing and raising your voice.
And more good news – you don’t have to be singing in tune to do it – just with correct technique!
A good singing teacher can teach correct vocal technique – but only a qualified pelvic floor physiotherapist can accurately integrate pelvic floor function into this.
Come and see me at Equilibria for a fun and practical progressive program to rehabilitate your pelvic floor.