Pelvic Floor

Your pelvic floor is a group of muscles and connective tissue that sits in the base of your pelvis. They attach to the pubic bone in the front, pelvis on either side and tailbone in the back, creating a diamond shape. It is often referred to as the floor of your core muscles. It has 5 basic functions;

Continence– maintaining control over bowels and bladder

Sexual– the ability to orgasm, the ability to get and maintain erection

Stability– helps control movement of the lower body (legs, pelvis, back and hips)

Support – functions similarly to a hammock keeping abdominal organs and contents supported

Sump-pump– helps to pump blood and lymphatic fluid back to your heart.

A pelvic floor that is not functioning well can have negative effects including but not limited to incontinence, pain with sex, low back pain, prolapse of abdominal organs, and pelvic congestion. Keeping your pelvic floor functioning as well as possible through pregnancy and postpartum is a lot of work, especially as that baby gets bigger putting more pressure on the pelvic floor, but will pay off in the long run.