Benefiting your pelvic health and tackling pesky issues such as leakage, pelvic pain with sex, or prolapse start with simple, yet effective activities - hip mobility and breath work. Not to say that all pelvic dysfunctions are treated in the same manner, but there are a few exercises that can be done to assist with a wide variety of pelvic dysfunction.
With all that to say, most of us don’t have a lot of time to devote to ourselves between the hustle and bustle of motherhood, careers, keeping house, and spending time with friends and family. In this post, we are going to dive into a quick 3-minute home exercise routine that can benefit your pelvic health at its baseline.
Modified Squat
To start with, we are going to work into completing a mechanically-sound squat position. The goal is not to focus on balance when completing this exercise, but rather mobility of the hips, alignment of the pelvis, and proper breath mechanics.
Learn more about the benefits of deep squats in the blog post here.
With that being said, I recommend having something to hold onto, especially if you’re not well-practiced in squat mechanics. This will allow you to feel stable and focus on the movement itself rather than staying upright and balanced.
To break this movement down and allow you to focus on your breath, during inhale the pelvic floor lengthens and moves downward toward the ground. During exhalation, the opposite happens resulting in the pelvic floor shortening or contracting. To assist your muscles to perform proper action throughout the movement, focus on breathing throughout the entire exercise activity.
Follow along with the directions below:
Position your feet shoulder width apart.
Try not to let your knees come inward.
Find neutral pelvic alignment.
Maintain neutral pelvic alignment all the way through the squat.
Inhale as you descend into the squat.
Exhale as you come back to standing.
Complete for 1 minute duration.
*Pro tip: Try avoiding tucking your buttocks under your pelvis or arching your back. These movements bring our pelvis and spine out of proper alignment.
Deep Squat Back Breathing
For the second exercise, our focus is breathing into a specific area of our body. Targeted breathing helps us to slow down our breath and benefit the sympathetic nervous system, calming our “fight or flight” response. This is the same system that impacts our response to stressful situations.
Learn about the benefits of breath work in the blog post here.
For starters, make sure to find an anchoring object such as a heavy chair, anchored table, or stable beam in your home that isn’t going to move against your body weight while in a deep squat position. You want to be able to hang on and allow your body to be as relaxed as possible throughout this exercise.
Follow along with the instructions below:
Move into a deep squat position anchoring yourself to something low to the ground.
Allow your back to round out and notice the nice stretch you feel.
Once stable in this nice stretch, focus on your breath again.
Inhale, breathing into your back.
Exhale and relax.
Repeat for 1 minute.
*Pro tip: Try breathing deeper, sending your breath into your back each time.
Modified Lunge & Rotate
This last exercise is more complex in movement, encouraging you to emphasize core bracing, breath work, and trunk and hip mobility. These systems work hand in hand to keep your pelvic floor stable and healthy during daily activities to prevent issues like leakage, prolapse, or pelvic pain.
Follow along with the instructions below:
Tie an exercise band to a stable surface about thigh height.
Grab the band in both hands.
Step forward away from the band’s anchor creating tension.
Step your leg forward that is on the opposite side of the band.
Step your leg back that is on the same side of the band.
Slightly bend both of your knees.
Bring the band to the center (near your belly button).
Keeping your knees slightly bent, inhale and rotate your trunk towards the side of your front leg.
Exhale and return to the starting position.
Repeat for a 1 minute duration.
*Pro tip: This last exercise is somewhat challenging but I encourage you to focus on quality of movement versus quantity.
Conclusion
Although I am not claiming that these three pelvic floor exercises are the end all be all to solving pelvic floor dysfunction, I do feel that they are a great foundation to help the strength and stability of your pelvic floor and core. The main goal is that you become more connected with this region of your body, bringing awareness to your pelvic floor to help you complete daily activities with proper mechanics.
If you’d like further information on exercises to support the female body, read the blog post here to learn how you can support your menstrual cycle with movement.
Interested in learning more about this topic or have questions? Feel free to reach out to us at 502-939-8564 or request a consultation here.
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