Pelvic Floor Muscles Pregnancy

Pregnancy and pelvic floor exercises.

Pelvic floor muscles pregnancy.

Why pelvic floor exercises are important. Your pelvic floor muscles may be compensating for joints and muscles that aren t working properly in your pelvis. Pelvic floor exercises can also prevent prolapse which is where the pelvic organs drop down into the vagina hay smith and dumoulin 2006. This loosening along with your growing baby pressing on your bladder may cause you to leak urine when you cough laugh sneeze or exercise.

Waiting in line at the shops. Practicing these exercises will help you feel connected to what happens inside your body as well as increase your strength and resistance to prevent problems related to this area. Pregnancy pelvic floor exercises are also commonly called kegel exercises. Once you know how to do kegel exercises you can do them anytime and anywhere.

Find out more in exercise in pregnancy. Doing pelvic floor exercises will strengthen these muscles and. Hay smith et al 2008. When you re pregnant the payoffs for developing strong abdominal and pelvic floor muscles are plentiful.

An easy way to describe a woman s pelvic floor muscles is as a supportive muscular sling. If you re pregnant or planning to get pregnant you can start doing pelvic floor exercises immediately. They are exercises that you can do to make the muscles of your pelvic floor stronger. Pregnancy and childbirth can cause the pelvic floor muscles to weaken and so can other factors like age obesity heavy lifting and chronic coughing.

The exercises will lower your chance of experiencing incontinence after having your baby. Having tight or strong pelvic floor muscles is unlikely to affect your ability to have a vaginal birth bø et al 2013 but it may lead to pelvic girdle pain pelvic partnership 2017. These muscles support the uterus bowel and bladder as well as enveloping the urethra rectum and vagina. Basic pelvic floor exercises maintain muscle tone in the pelvis and promote recovery after pregnancy and delivery.

These muscles are a pregnant woman s best friend says julie tupler r n creator of. Doing pelvic floor muscle exercises kegels from early pregnancy onwards can stop those accidental wees in late pregnancy and within six months of childbirth. During your pregnancy your pelvic floor muscles will loosen due to hormonal changes in your body. Pelaez et al 2013.