Core and pelvic floor health is an important part of recovery after loss. Understanding your core and pelvic floor, your tendencies, and how to work around those tendencies can help you reduce symptoms, minimize risk of complications, and have a positive impact on long term health.
What is your core?
Your core is more than just the abdominal muscles at the front of your stomach. Rather, your core is a system of muscles that work together for optimal function. It can be helpful to think of your core as a canister, including:
- Diaphragm – manages pressure from the top
- Transverse abdominis – deep wrapping muscles
- Pelvic floor – supporting your pelvic organs (uterus, bladder, and bowel)
When you inhale, your diaphragm naturally contracts allowing your lungs to fill with air. At the same time, your pelvic floor lowers or lengthens, and your belly relaxes.
On exhale, your diaphragm relaxes, pushing the air out of your lungs. In other parts of your core, your transverse abdominis contracts and your pelvic floor contracts and lifts. These are super gentle contractions that you may not even feel happening, but the system is important to be aware of when it comes to counter any tendencies that you may have and decrease symptoms as you move throughout your daily activities.
Core, pelvic floor, and exercise
Maintaining an appropriate level of tension in the pelvic floor allows you to have the strength necessary to hold the pelvic organs in place while also allowing the relaxation necessary for urination and bowel movements.
While it may seem that you want a strong pelvic floor, it’s more important to have a coordinated pelvic floor, one that can respond appropriately to the task at hand. Ex: when you squat, sneeze, or run. Too little strength, too much tension, or too much pressure generated in one area can lead to potential issues like incontinence, pelvic organ prolapse, or diastasis.
Using exercise to help your core and pelvic floor symptoms
Breath holding
Are you someone that holds their breath all the time, bearing down, or sending pressure out into your abdomen? If so, how can we redistribute that pressure using your breath so it’s not concentrating in one spot?
As you work through the exercises in this program, one way to manage tension is to play around with exhaling either through the whole exercise or through the portion of exertion (the straining or hard part of the movement). By timing this exhale, you’re allowing your body’s natural system to take place where the pelvic floor slightly lifts on exhale. You’re not looking to have to do this with every rep of every exercise. The goal is to make it automatic so you’re not thinking about it forever.
Tension
This time of recovery after loss can be stressful and traumatic for many people. With that stress can also come an increase in tension. Do you find yourself with your shoulders raised, glutes clenched, or clenching your jaw? Tension isn’t isolated. Holding tension in those areas can mean tension in your pelvic floor too.
To support this, we’ve added mobility and pelvic floor relaxation with every workout. You may want to reduce more tension by not squeezing your glutes when you squat, not doing a kegel while you’re jumping, or relaxing the belly in a run.
Your core and pelvic floor play an important functional role within your body. By becoming aware of these tendencies and learning how to adjust pressure and tension, you’re also able to use the core and pelvic floor for positive impacts in your health.
Casey Thomas-Hardesty, MS
Casey is the owner of Two Peas Wellness. She specializes in core and pelvic floor health as well as returning to fitness after pregnancy loss.
