The pelvic floor muscles

Written By Abby Cooney

The pelvic floor muscles are a hammock like layer of muscles at the bottom of the pelvis attaching from the tailbone to the pubic bone.

They are an extremely important group of muscles with various roles;

  • Helps maintain continence of both urine and faeces

  • Supports the pelvic organs

  • Improves sexual pleasure

  • Provides support to the pelvis and spine

So, how to activate them...

You want to activate the muscles from the back to the front.

Imagine you are trying to stop yourself from passing wind.

Then, pull the muscles forwards and upwards - imagine stopping yourself passing urine.

Work on short and long muscular contractions:

Fast contractions - squeeze the muscles on and off quickly until you reach fatigue.

Slow contractions - contract the muscles to approx 70% maximum effort and aim to hold for 10 seconds. Release the contraction by imaging you are ‘letting everything go’ to ensure they fully relax. Repeat until fatigue.

Aim to work on both short and long contraction 2-3 x daily. As these muscles are a deep muscle, you can practice almost anywhere without anybody noticing so no excuses!

Abby Cooney
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The meniscus