You can keep your pelvic girdle healthy and fit by training your pelvic floor muscles on a regular basis. For this you can start with doing pelvic floor muscle exercises. The pelvic floor muscles give stability in the pelvis and keep control over the functions of the pelvic girdle. You don’t experience issues with a healthy pelvic floor, and this in turn means that you have the situation under control. A healthy and fit pelvic girdle is a pelvis without pelvic pain or other pelvic issues. The pelvis has a lot of muscles and ligaments. If those are in a good condition, then we can say that you have a healthy pelvis. When we talk about having a healthy pelvis, we mainly mean having a healthy pelvic floor in this case. The pelvic floor is the biggest muscle group in your pelvis. The pelvic floor prevents the unwanted escape of urine or stools. If this still might be the case and you experience pelvic issues with it because of a weakened pelvic floor, you can still do a lot about this matter. Fortunately, the pelvic floor is a muscle group, which means that you can train and exercise it. Though discipline is needed to keep the pelvic floor muscles in good shape. 

 

If you’re looking for pelvic floor exercises or go to the exercises page. If you’re looking for products for your pelvis and go to the Pelvic Store. 

 

When do you have a healthy pelvis? 

The condition of your pelvis can be easily tested. If you don’t have pelvic issues like urinal incontinence, fecal incontinence, organ prolapse, frequently pain in the groin, gut, tailbone or lower back, then your pelvic girdle is in good shape. However, you can experience pelvic pain or pelvic instability as well, and these too are signs that something is wrong with your pelvis. It’s important that the pelvic floor muscles are strong and fit. These pelvic floor muscles keep the urethra and the anus properly closed off and they keep the organs in the right place. A weakened pelvic floor can cause a lot of pelvic issues. Do you know how to find your pelvis and do you have control over it? Then it’s fine! You know how to use a healthy pelvis when it doesn’t give you issues in the pelvic girdle or around it. 

 

A healthy pelvic floor. And now it sounds like you need to feed your pelvic floor an apple and a banana once a day, but that isn’t typically recommended. Maybe you know that by now. There are a lot of muscles and ligaments in the pelvis, we call this the pelvic floor and the pelvic ligaments (but you probably already saw that one coming). These pelvic floor muscles and pelvic ligaments are positioned in the pelvis like a sort of hammock. This isn’t for relaxing purposes but to keep your organs in place and to close off your pelvis, otherwise it will become quite the mess. This hammock tenses up tightly when you’re too scared to do a number two at work, and relaxes again when you’re on the toilet back at home. When you cough or lift something up, you can feel the pelvic floor area shortly tense up. The pelvic floor is a busy bee. I’m sure you don’t want to imagine involuntarily losing urine or feces.  

 

How to recognize a healthy pelvis: 

1. Keeping in feces, especially during coughing, lifting things up, etc. as well. 
2. Keeping in farts or shamelessly throw them out at your own will. 
3. Keeping organs in their place so you don’t get a prolapse. 
4. Having no issues with urinating. 
5. Being able to let all of the feces flow away properly on an intended moment. 
6. ‘Woo’ without any pain. 
7. Your pelvis is stable for your lower back and doesn’t develop issues. 
8.  

What do the pelvic floor muscles do? 

The pelvic floor muscles are built up out of different layers. These layers work closely together but are also very dependent on each other. You don’t really notice this very often. You often don’t notice the tightening of these pelvic floor muscles either, however you can actively tighten them. Try to keep in a fart. Exactly, there you go! You don’t tense up one muscle in that area but you tense up multiple at the same time. It’s an all or nothing mentality. 

 

A male has two openings through the pelvic floor muscles and the female has three, but I don’t think I need to explain as to why it’s like that. Well, to say everything and make it complete anyway, the male has an anus and a urethra, and with the female the vagina is still added.  

 

The bladder and the intestines have their own shut-off valve, the anus. The anus closes off the intestines from external air and water. Your brain takes care of this subconsciously, so you don’t have to consciously keep your bottom clenched the whole day. It is a good thing that those things are being taken care of subconsciously, otherwise the days would go very differently, and everyone would walk a little bit awkward. 

 

A weakened pelvic floor 

A pelvic floor can cause pelvic issues in two ways. The pelvic floor muscles can either be weak or too strong and overactive. With a weakened pelvic floor you can see that people have trouble with keeping in their urine or stool. Sex can be an issue as well. This is being experienced as numb when you are dealing with a weak pelvic floor. There can be erection issues with men, the blood doesn’t stay properly in the penis. If pressure is being put on the pelvic floor muscles if those are weakened, then it can be hard to keep the muscles tightened up. Think about having a coughing fit, laughing fit, or lifting something heavy. It’s important that you train and strengthen the pelvic floor muscles. You also need to learn how to keep the abdominal pressure under control. Keep on breathing thoroughly whenever you lift something. Your pelvic floor won’t be under too much high pressure like that.  

 

Symptoms of weak pelvic floor muscles: 

1. You can’t maintain an erection. 
2. Numb sex. 
3. Urinal incontinence. 
4. Fecal incontinence. 
5. Organ prolapse.  

An overactive pelvic floor 

An overactive pelvic floor has too tense or overactive pelvic floor muscles. The muscles are overloaded because of an action that might have been too heavy. For example, someone with a tough job needs to lift a lot of heavy things, but someone who has a chronic cough can also develop pelvic floor muscles that are overactive. With an overactive pelvic floor you should keep overflow incontinence in mind. Overflow incontinence is a form of urinal or fecal incontinence where the bladder or intestines literally overflow with urine or stools. You can’t properly lose the urine or feces with an overactive pelvic floor. The rest of the feces store up in the intestines, and the remaining urine gets stored up in the bladder. These organs become too full and will unexpectedly push something out. For the rest there are sexual issues like vaginism because of an overactive pelvic floor, or not being able to get an erection because the blood can’t properly flow to the penis. 

 

Symptoms of overactive pelvic floor muscles: 

1. Erection disorders. Blood doesn’t properly flow to the penis. 
2. Vaginism or vulvitis. Struggling to bring something into the vagina.  
3. Overflow urinal incontinence. 
4. Overflow fecal incontinence. 
5. Pain in or around the pelvis, for example in the groin, lower back and abdomen. 

This is how your pelvis stays healthy! 

Maybe you aren’t experiencing pelvic issues now, which is brilliant of course. But it’s also a good time, now you’re still healthy, to start with decreasing the chances of developing pelvic issues in the future. For example, if you know that a pregnancy is coming, or you just came out of a pregnancy, or you know that a surgery around your pelvis (for example a prostate surgery) is coming up, then it’s smart to have your pelvis be as healthy as possible. The healthier you are when you go into a situation like that, the smaller the chance for developing further pelvic issues becomes. Your recovery time will already drastically shorten when you’re healthy and in good shape, but if you also already know pelvic floor exercises you’ll be back on your feet in no time. 

 

Maintaining your pelvis 

Now it’s up to maintaining. You’re already maintaining a lot when you’re consciously moving and exercising in the right manner. Think about the usage of your pelvic floor muscles when you have to sneeze, cough, or laugh. Catching unexpected abdominal pressure, so to speak. Tighten up your pelvic floor muscles properly during those situations, because they aren’t always unexpected all the time. 

 

So, you can really train your pelvic floor muscles, and keep those muscles in mind whenever you’re exercising. Keep breathing properly so you don’t put too much pressure on the pelvic floor muscles, and only tighten them during moments of necessary pressure. Breathing and tightening up or tensing up are the keywords when it comes to maintaining your pelvic floor muscles. 

 

3 tips for tightening up the pelvic floor: 

1. 1. Keep your pelvic floor muscles under control. 
      Become aware of your pelvic floor muscles first. Sit cross-legged on the floor and tighten up the anus, vagina or penis. As if you’re keeping in urine or an enormous fart. While you’re doing this, lightly suck in your stomach. With this you’re getting the whole area of the stable abdominal muscles and deeper muscles. 

2. 2. Tighten up the pelvic floor muscles during daily activities. 
      Apply this technique to your daily activities. Are you getting up from a chair? Or are you about to sit? Are you walking the stairs? Or do you feel a cough, sneeze, or a laughing fit come up? Tighten up the anus, vagina or penis, in combination with sucking in your stomach. Like this you have and done some exercise and given your pelvic floor some support during some complex actions (for these muscles) 

3. 3. Tighten up the pelvic floor muscles during exercising. 
      Are you an active sportsman or do you visit the gym frequently? Then think about tightening up your pelvic floor muscles and sucking in your stomach during your exercises. For example when you’re doing sit-ups, when you’re sitting on the home trainer, or with whatever exercise you’re doing. And the good thing about it is that nobody will notice you doing it! Nothing can stop you. 

Tightening up and relaxing the pelvic floor muscles 

Do you actually need maintenance with relaxation instead of tightening up? Then take your resting moments. Choose your moments of rest and make this your routine. Go to the toilet at work on specific times, for example. Even if you don’t need to do anything at all. You can also grab a resting moment and do some relaxing exercises. Click on the bleu words to take a look at my pelvic floor relaxation exercises. 

 

Are you noticing yourself to be in a stressful situation and do you experience pelvic issues because of it? Calmly restart with your pelvic floor relaxation exercises, whether it’s for relaxation or tensing them up. Decide the frequency of the exercises yourself, but do hold on to your routine, because often it goes wrong there. 

 

5 tips for relaxing the pelvic floor: 

1. 1. Find a quiet spot to relax your pelvic floor. 
      Look for a calm spot and plan in your moments. Be sure that you’re alone. It’s important that you’re not easily distracted. Put your phone on the other side of the room, or better yet, in another room. 

2. 2. Tighten up the pelvic floor muscles shortly to relax them. 
      Tighten up the pelvic floor muscles for a short moment. Tighten up the anus, vagina or penis and then fully let that tension go. Repeat this a few times. You’ll notice that you can take back the control. 

3. 3. Practice and get the control back over your pelvic floor. 
      Practice makes perfect. The more you practice, the more you gain more control over your pelvic floor muscles. 

4. 4. Plan in your moments of rest throughout the day. 
      Plan in your resting moments, otherwise you will never really take time to do the pelvic floor exercises. 

5. 5. Breathe in and out through your lower stomach. 
      Breathe properly through your lower stomach. Keep the abdominal pressure low. If needs be, place your hands on your lower stomach so you know where to breathe to. This helps the most with relaxing. 

You can always practice pelvic exercises 

You can practice your pelvic floor exercises at any given moment, and if needs be, place your hands on your lower stomach to breathe towards them during stressful situations. If you’re already exercising at the gym, be more aware of your movements and keep your pelvic floor in mind during exercises. Nobody notices, so you can even do some pelvic floor exercises at your desk. 

 

It’s important to find a good moment to think about your pelvic floor. Treat it with more awareness and some more maintenance will do miracles. Your body is sort of like a home to you, and you give your home a fresh coat of paint from time to time too, right? Or not? No? Then maybe you should get to that too. 

 

And lastly, are you looking for more information? 

Hopefully this information was useful to you! We’ve discussed multiple topics like how to know when your pelvic girdle is healthy, the functions of the pelvic floor muscle, the differences between a weakened and an overactive pelvic floor, how to keep your pelvis healthy, and advice on how and when to exercise your pelvic floor. If you’re still looking for some more information, feel free to take another look around on the website. It’s filled with in-depth information, tips a webshop and also exercises. I still have a lot of articles with lots of information about other symptoms and issues. Feel free to click on the blue words to take you straight to the right page.