Pelvic Floor Dysfunction is NOT Ok
Women (and men, but let’s focus on the ladies today) have suffered through all types of pelvic floor dysfunction, and are often told that it’s normal. The new mom may walk into her OBGYN’s office and complain of pain during intercourse and leaking when she’s walking and be told that this is all par for the course. Or the post menopausal woman may complain of leaking while she’s walking and be told it’s just a part of aging. These are issues that need to be addressed ASAP!
I find that it’s best to look at these issues like any other musculoskeletal dysfunction. For instance, if you had a bad knee and put on a brace on it without pinpointing the specific deficits, the problem would most likely get worse. The muscles around the knee would atrophy and get tighter, progressively affecting how the joint is functioning and eventually move up to the hip and down to the ankle.
Now if you were experiencing leaking with exercise and you started to use a pad to address the problem and maybe urinating more frequently to ensure your bladder was empty, the problem would progressively worsen. The bladder would adjust to these frequent trips and think that it now needs to empty every 30 minutes, instead of the usual 3-5 hours. The trips to the bathroom would increase, but you would notice that the volume of urine coming out would be minimal. And let’s talk about using a pad-do we put a diaper on a child who is being potty trained at the first sign of an accident? NO! So, why do we use that as a solution for our own problems? This just teaches the brain and the bladder that it’s ok to leak, the pad’s got me.
Whether it’s pain or incontinence (there are a laundry list of pelvic floor problems but let’s keep it simple for today), it’s important to figure out WHY this is happening. Are the muscles weak and not supporting the pelvic floor? Are the muscles tight and spasming around the urethra? Are my tight muscles contributing to painful sex? Or maybe there’s scar tissue or muscle adhesions from a vaginal delivery. Once the dysfunction(s) is found, then the problems can be addressed head on. But just like that bad knee, if you wait years to address it then things get a little more complicated.
So, lesson of the day is recognize symptoms early and talk to your doctor or a pelvic floor physical therapist. The earlier you address it the more likely you’ll kick them curb in less time!