This is a weak pelvic floor 

If you’re having issues with a weak pelvic floor, then you’re often experiencing a few pelvic issues. The most common issues are urinal incontinence and organic prolapse because of your weakened pelvic floor. You have to do enough training and do pelvic floor exercises in order to strengthen your pelvic floor. Your pelvic floor is a muscle, and you can strengthen muscles. The pelvic floor provides strength to your organs and makes sure that your bodily entrances and exits remain closed. Having a weak pelvic floor means that your pelvic floor muscles are limp and in turn they won’t be able to provide your organs with (enough) support, which causes your organs to move or prolapse. The pelvic floor muscles around the urethra and anus can become weakened which possibly can cause you to develop incontinence issues. This is caused when the pelvic floor muscles can’t keep those exits properly closed off anymore. A weak pelvic floor can cause issues like urine leakage or fecal incontinence. You can get a weak pelvic floor after giving birth, it can also show up at a later age: during or after the menopause, because the decrease in the different hormones causes the muscles to become weaker.

 

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. 

 

What is the pelvic floor? 

The pelvic floor consists out of a group of muscles. Your pelvic floor closes off the bottom of the pelvic girdle. A woman has a pelvic floor with three openings, and a man has two. With both genders, two openings are the urethra and the anus. The third opening with the woman is her vagina. Your pelvic floor closes off those entrances. Next to closing off the openings, the pelvic floor also provides your organs with strength and support. Like this the organs will not prolapse. The pelvic floor is actively tensed up all day. During urinating you have to relax, otherwise you will narrow down the urethra. 

 

What is a weak pelvic floor? 

Having a weak pelvic floor means that the pelvic floor muscles are too limp or weakened. There is a chance that a few issues will develop, like having trouble to orgasm or having urine leakage or fecal incontinence. The bladder and/or intestines can’t be closed off properly because of the weakened pelvic floor muscles. A few annoying issues will develop because of that. 

 

Causes of a weak pelvic floor 

Below are a few causes of a weak pelvic floor. The causes have consequences for the symptoms that you’ll experience because of this condition. 

 

1. 1. Age 
      When you get older, you can struggle with getting weak pelvic floor muscles. You’re producing less hormones during your menopause, which causes your muscles to become weaker. Your pelvic floor becomes weaker because of that and you have the possibility to get organic prolapses.  

2. 2. Heavy physical labor or work 
      Through lifting too many things that are too heavy (like heavy groceries or boxes) you can overload your pelvic floor. A lot of pressure gets put on the pelvis and the pelvic floor muscles tense up too much as a consequence of the pressure. The advice is to exercise more.  

3. 3. Pregnancy 
      The pregnancy hormones influence your pelvic floor muscles, which makes them weaker. A lot of hormones are being produced during the pregnancy. Next to that, it can also be a matter of the amount of pressure. Urine leakage gets caused when too much abdominal pressure gets put on weak pelvic floor muscles.  

4. 4. Giving birth 
      Next to the pregnancy hormones, you can also get weak pelvic floor muscles because of the childbirth. Your pelvis has to endure a lot during the birth, after all. The released hormones make sure that your pelvic bones become more flexible so it’s easier for you to give birth. In turn, the pelvic floor muscles become weaker. The pelvic floor muscles can also become damaged during the birth. The pelvis can become weak because of these damages.  

Issues of a weak pelvic floor 

Below you will find a few issues that arise and can co-exist with a weak pelvic floor: 

• Prolapses with a weak pelvic floor 
• Sexual issues with a weak pelvic floor 
• Fatigue with a weak pelvic floor 
• Urine leakage with a weak pelvic floor 
• Fecal incontinence with a weak pelvic floor 

Prolapse with a weak pelvic floor 

With a prolapse you can have a heavy feeling in the vagina. It can feel as if there is a ball between your legs, or it can feel as if something is being pushed out. Because of your physical movements, the issues can increase throughout the day. An increased abdominal pressure makes a prolapse worse which causes you to get another issue, like fatigue. The organs that can prolapse are the bladder, the uterus, and the rectum. You will find a few handy tips to prevent prolapses in this article which you can apply yourself. 

 

How do you recognize a prolapse with a weak pelvic floor? 

When you have a prolapse with a weak pelvic floor (near the bladder), you will notice a bump at the front of your vagina, which will feel like a ball. When your uterus has prolapsed, your vagina can feel very narrowed, as if your uterus is in the way. Sometimes you can feel it because of how it prolapsed. When your rectum has prolapsed, you will recognize the prolapse as a bulge at the back of the vagina. 

 

Sexual issues  

A lot of people struggle with sexual issues because of a weak pelvic floor. That’s because of the unfeeling sex and the organs that are obstructing. To be able to enjoy sex you will have to relax your pelvic floor muscles so they can be flexible enough to be able to let the male genitalia enter. That can’t happen with a weak pelvic floor. This often causes a painful sensation and makes it hard to have a vaginal orgasm. If you’re struggling a lot with a weak pelvic floor, it’s also possible to experience urine leakage during sex. It’s easier to have sex with a weak pelvic floor when you take a moment to rest so your pelvic floor muscles can relax. Aren’t you able to? There are always exercises for the pelvic floor muscles that are able to help you. 

 

Fatigue with a weak pelvic floor 

It’s common to be fatigued with a weak pelvic floor because you’re trying to push yourself to your limits. You continue with things despite your body telling you to stop. By moving too much, your pelvic floor muscles become overloaded and too tense. Are you having a prolapse with a weak pelvic floor? Then you’ll eventually have trouble with having a heavy feeling in your stomach. Your abdominal pressure increases which exhausts you faster. Because of the many efforts and pressure in your body, you grow tired. You shouldn’t be able do to too much with your body if you want to prevent this. Avoid lifting heavy things, like heavy grocery bags or boxes. And if you can’t go on for a moment, feel free to relax on your bed so you can give your pelvic floor muscles some rest. 

 

Urine incontinence 

The pelvic floor muscles make sure that your bladder stays in place. A weak pelvic floor causes your pelvic floor muscles to be limp. This often happens after the pregnancy, when your hormones are being chaotic. This causes the opening of your urethra to not be able to close off properly, which causes you to experience urine leakage during sex or when you’re being tense. Normally the pressure on your circular muscle lets you know when you have to urinate, but because your muscles are weak you don’t feel that and then it leaks out by itself. Unwanted urine leakage can be solved by going to a gynecologist. You can also do some pelvic floor muscle exercises yourself to strengthen your muscles. Next to that, the doctor can also prescribe you medication, so it’s a smart idea to make a visit. 

 

You can also unwillingly lose urine during certain actions whilst the urge to urinate is non-existent. It can often happen when you sneeze, cough, work out, laugh or shake. These sudden actions can cause you to lose urine because the openings aren’t properly closed off. 

 

Fecal incontinence

Struggling to hold back fecal incontinence with a weak pelvic floor often is caused by a prolapse of the rectum. Just like with the urethra, the muscles let you know when you need to go to the toilet for your stools. Because of your muscles being too weak or damaged (that can be caused by giving birth or a surgery), your circular muscles can’t properly hold back your feces. You often don’t have control over it anymore, and without you noticing, something falls out. The solution for trying to be able to hold back fecal incontinence with a weak pelvic floor isn’t as easy as it seems. The best thing you can do is empty your intestines as much as possible through letting your pelvic floor muscles relax when you’re going to the toilet. Try going to the toilet in the morning, in the afternoon, and in the evening to make sure that your intestines are empty, so you won’t experience unwanted fecal incontinence. 

 

An overactive pelvic floor 

Next to a weak pelvic floor, you can also struggle with an overactive pelvic floor. This can create issues like having stomach aches, pain in the groin, pain in the legs and pain in the lower back. These issues are easier to be solved. Do try to keep resting when you have one of the issues. You can also solve those issues by taking medication. Do make sure that you keep doing pelvic floor muscle exercises so you don’t increase the pain, and wear loose clothing to let your body breathe. Are you still experiencing pain after using medication and resting for a few days? Then the best thing you can do is visit a gynecologist. 

In the article ‘solutions for an overactive pelvic floor’ you can find more information so you won’t struggle that much. 

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And lastly, are you looking for more information? 

Hopefully this information was useful to you! 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.