The pelvic floor is a bowl-shaped group of muscles that sits inside your hip bones. It is responsible for many things, including supporting the abdominal contents, supporting the skeletal system, allowing the passage of waste, allowing the passage of babies, sexual function, posture, and connecting the lower body to the upper body. There’s a lot most of us don’t know about our pelvic floor, however here are 5 things to understand!

1. The pelvic floor impacts your posture. It is made by a of a deep system of support muscles. Think of the deep lower core as the base from which your legs, arms, and head moves. The stronger the base, the more freely we can move. Because the pelvic floor is the base of our support, it is also one of the most important components of our posture. Your pelvic floor literally holds up your head! With ideal posture, your pelvic floor and diaphragm are in line with one another; your diaphragm is stacked over your pelvic floor, and your head then stacks on top of the diaphragm. We cannot achieve ideal posture without addressing the function of the pelvic floor and its relationship to the rest of the body.

2. The pelvic floor moves. There are two joints in the front, formed by the two pubic bones and the pubic symphysis. Your sacroiliac joints (SI joints) create two joints on the back side of the pelvis. The final joint is found at the bottom of the sacrum, where it connects to the tailbone, or coccyx. The coccyx’s mobility is due to where the muscles in the pelvic floor attach. A healthy pelvic floor is able to lengthen, as well as shorten, as the joints move. If these joints are not moving enough or correctly, it can create a significant amount of dysfunction. This can include incontinence, difficulty during childbirth, sexual dysfunction, pelvic organ prolapse, postural dysfunction, and many other problems.

3. The common dysfunctions of the pelvic floor are NOT normal. Society has given us the impression that as we age, we naturally lose control of our bowel and bladder. We are told that because we had a baby, or five babies, we will no longer be able to jump, laugh, cough, or sneeze without leaking. We are told that sex is sometimes painful for certain women, and that we need to somehow figure out how to enjoy it more. And we are told that there are products and surgeries out there to help us, and that’s the best we can get. NO. Even though these symptoms are common in our culture, they are not normal, and you never need to “just live with them.”

4. The pelvic floor is directly related to sexual function. Intercourse, as mentioned above, can be painful for some women. Because our pelvic floor is a group of muscles, it can develop restrictions or become weak. The causes of the restrictions and weakness vary, but they will always create dysfunction. We need the pelvic floor to be able to contract while it shortens and have control while it lengthens to allow for intercourse without pain. We also need a functioning pelvic floor for improved sensation during intercourse.

5. You can improve your pelvic floor's function. This is something you need to always remember! You have all the components within you to find improved function of your pelvic floor. If you are experiencing any of the symptoms discussed above, you do not have to live with them. Please don’t live with them.

So, now what should you do? Pelvic health is important, and we all deserve to know about it. Because there are many components to it, a great place to start is at our office Thrive Family Chiropractic. Here we specialize in pelvic function as it relates to pregnancy, birth, and postpartum. If you’re suffering from pelvic floor dysfunction it could be due to the involved joints and nerves. Luckily, this is where we can help you!

Don’t wait, get yourself checked!

(562) 386-1415