The pelvic floor is a group of muscles about the size of your cupped hands, situated at the bottom of your pelvis. As well as muscles, the pelvic floor contains nerves, blood vessels and connective tissue.

The pelvic floor is involved in breathing, balance, digestion, sex, bladder, and bowel control as well as supporting the pelvis, hips, and back. 

During a vaginal delivery they stretch up to 110x their usual length, and during pregnancy are under increased pressure due to the weight of the baby. Because of this problems will often show up during pregnancy or after childbirth. Signs that the pelvic floor is not working as it should can be: incontinence, pelvic pain, organ prolapse, sexual challenges, back pain and/or hip pain.

About 30% of women suffer from urinary incontinence 3 months after giving birth. That is leaking urine when coughing, laughing sneezing, exercising or just standing up from sitting. Urine can also leak when rushing to the toilet or when there is an overwhelming and uncontrollable urge to urinate. While a 1/3 of women experiencing this makes it a common occurrence after childbirth it is not normal and can be treated. Strengthening the pelvic floor will help the vast majority of cases. 

Pelvic Organ Prolapse is another challenge that is even less known and talked about than incontinence. 50% of women who have had children will have some degree of prolapse and most are unaware due to the few symptoms with this condition in the early stages. Prolapse is when the pelvic organs lose their support, unsupported organs will start to descend into and, in severe cases, out of the vagina. This can give rise to back pain, a feeling of heaviness or dragging in the vagina or seeing or feeling a tissue bulge in the vagina.

Often women know they need to be strengthening their pelvic floor after birth. When done correctly pelvic floor exercises are effective in improving pelvic floor function and any associated symptoms. In cases where it isn’t working there could be a few reasons.
Research shows that often women are not activating their pelvic floor effectively when they think they are. In some cases the pelvic floor is not functioning because it is too tight as opposed to too weak, sometimes pain and scar tissue can affect the ability to contract the pelvic floor and sometimes the pelvic floor might be strong but it is not working in coordination with the rest of the body.
 

A Mummy MOT includes an internal assessment of the Pelvic floor, the only way to be truly sure how strong and effectively the pelvic floor is working. After which your pelvic floor recovery plan is made which will include an exercise program and hands-on treatment as appropriate such as pelvic floor muscle release.