By Dr Tony Setiobudi BMedSci, MBBS, MRCS, MMed (Ortho), FRCS (Ortho)
Pelvic floor muscles support your bladder and bowels within the pelvis and help to control when you open them or when you need to hold on. Both women and men have pelvic floor muscles.
Pelvic floor muscles attach all the way from your tailbone (coccyx) at the back, to your pubic bone at the front and also out towards the sitting bones within your bottom. They are the same muscles found in your arms and legs, which means that we can retrain them, but they have a more specialist job to do.
Your pelvic floor can weaken for many reasons, including the impact of childbirth, a loss of strength in the connective tissues, menopause, weight changes, and surgeries (such as correcting a prolapse), all of which can affect women. As for men, there are many risk factors for pelvic floor disorders, including ageing, injury, obesity, surgery, trauma, and even abdominal issues such as constipation and incontinence.
Pelvic Floor Exercise Benefits
- Improve bowel and bladder function
- Increase sexual function
- Provide pelvic organ support
- Enhance postural support
- Reduce the risk of prolapse
- Improve recovery after surgery
- Increase quality of life
This video demonstrates some exercises you can do at home.
Dr Tony Setiobudi is an Orthopaedic & Spine Surgeon at Mount Elizabeth Hospital (Orchard), Singapore. He treats bone, joint, muscle and ligament problems in adults and children. He has a special interest in nerve compression and spine problems such as back & neck pain, scoliosis, kyphosis, spine tumor & infection, spinal cord injury, osteoporosis fracture, spinal stenosis and slipped disc.