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A Strong Core is a Strong You

Pelvic Floor Dysfunction

Symptoms of Pelvic Floor Dysfunction:

If you’re not feeling connected to your pelvic floor, which are the muscles holding all your organs and supporting your lower back. If you just don’t feel comfortable, You should listen to yourself, don’t leave it until it starts creating huge problems:

  • Do you feel like your organs are dropping down?
  • Are you suffering from lower back pain?
  • Are you leaking when you cough, sneeze or laugh?
  • Do you feel like you can’t control your body?
  • Have you been to the doctor many times to no avail?
  • Have you lost your mojo and feel flat?
  • Do you have a poor self-confidence and you don’t want to head back to the gym, cross fit, get back on the bike or even go for a walk?
  • Have you lost your intimacy with your partner?
  • Does it hurt being intimate with your partner?

If any of these questions sound familiar,

Pelvic floor dysfunction is the feeling of the bladder, urethra, small intestine, rectum, uterus or vagina falling down which is caused by weakness or injury to the ligaments, connective tissue, and muscles of the pelvic floor.

The Pelvic floor is a network of muscle, ligaments and tissue that act like a hammock to support the organs of the pelvis. These are vital to your well-being and prevention of health issues later in life.

The reason why the Pelvic Floor Weakens:

  • Childbirth -Pregnancy
    • women who have have multiple births
    • Instrument births (forceps or venturous)
    • severe perineal tearing or large babies
  • Straining on the toilet
    • chronic or repeated straining on the toilet from constipation can lead to pelvic floor weakening
  • Heavy lifting
    • As farmers, farmer wives, nurses, caregivers, weightlifters which lift heavy weights at the gym for many years (putting to much strain on the Pelvic floor as you’re pushing down and not engaging the pelvic floor muscle correctly)
  • Menopause (hormone changes the estrogen and collagen)
  • High Impact exercises
    • like basketball, netball or running

Are you feeling tired, have a sore back?

This is when you then get into the habit of eating badly and not exercising.

Then after a year or so you say “now it is my time” so you go back to walking, biking, the gym, a Pilates class or yoga and your back starts to ache or you leak a bit and get taken down by injury after injury.

When getting back in to any exercise, you have to start with working on you power house first.

These are your glutes and Pelvic floor muscles.

Get to know them, where they are, and knowing how having a strong Pelvic floor and gluts can get you back into exercises or a Pilates class with the knowledge that you are working the Pelvic floor and gluts correctly. That you are not pushing down on the Pelvic floor and making it even weaker.

That you have a strong core which means a strong you.

Lower back pain

Do you suffer from lower back pain?

Lower back pain can be caused by many things:

  • One side of your back may be stronger than the other due to repetitive work.
  • Your vertebra could be going through degeneration, wear and tear on the joints.
  • Tight hamstrings can pull on the pelvic bone. (hamstrings are connected to the bottom of your pelvic bone)
  • Weak hamstrings can have an effect on your back in different ways to a tight hamstring.

This means your back, which normally assists the body, is now being forced to take the main load which it is not designed for. This is during your everyday movements such as standing, sitting or day to day activities.

The main cause of back pain is weak pelvic floor muscles.

The Pelvic floor is made up of many muscles and if they are weak, this can cause issues of the back as stated above.

These deep pelvic floor muscles help keep your internal organs from “falling” out the bottom (This is termed Pelvic Floor Dysfunction, your organs don’t literally fall out though just in case you were thinking that). 

Transverse Muscles

These wrap around the lower back to the front of your hips, these muscles can become weak, and again your back which is normally assisting is now been forced to take the main load in which it is not designed for.

Glutes

 These are commonly referred to as your buttocks.

If they are weak or too tight it can majorly affect your back. As the years go by your back is taking most of the load from sanding, sitting and walking This means that your glutes and pelvic floor are getting weak.

Massage, Physiotherapy, Chiropractics, and Osteopaths can all help with a limited effect

As a massage therapist, I had a lot of clients with back issues. They would come in and I could help with by loosening their muscles and ease their pain.

This pain would not stay that way for long and they’d need multiple sessions without any prolonged improvement.

Does this sound like you?

I looked into more of strengthening the whole body.

I put my focus on the pelvic floor

I found that having my clients understand how important having a strong core is or even understanding where their core muscles are. and knowing how to turn the pelvic floor muscles on has helped a lot.

The Pelvic floor and glutes are the power House.

Postnatal

Postnatal is anyone that has had a baby, even if their baby is six months or 30 years of age.

If you are not feeling very connected to your pelvic floor anymore or you are leaking a little from coughing, a good laugh or even working out, that’s an indication of a weak pelvic floor and if you don’t strengthen it, it will lead to a prolapse.

When trying to strengthen your pelvic floor postnatally you’re probably told to squeeze or pull up your pelvic floor muscle, however:

  • Do you know if you’re engaging the correct muscle?
  • Can you feel you have the pelvic floor muscle turning on or are you not certain?
  • If you have attended a Pilates class they say, “zip-up, draw-in, or draw-up”. Think of it like its an elevator going up one level than another and so on.

These are all good cues but do you know where these muscles are drawing up and turning on from?

Can you feel these muscles move, can you turn them on just by sitting without turning on any other muscles?

Mums that are twisting,  lifting baby carriers, picking things up off the floor. During this, are you turning on your pelvic floor muscles or are you just too busy to even think about having them on? If not this means your back muscles are doing all the work. The back is meant to only assist, its now forced to take the main road but it is not designed to do this.

Your Diatsaes are muscles that have been stretched while pregnant.

Knowing how to work and even connect these muscles properly and not putting more stress on them is vital in the rehabilitation of your abdominal muscles.

This comes down to how you breathe and using the muscles correctly when exercising. Knowing how to draw your pelvic floor and transverse your abdominal muscles into the centers without popping or having a cone-like tummy when exercising or doing any exercise e.g walking.

Hip Knee

Most of us have a sore knee or hip from time to time. From sports injury’s work or just being active Snowboarding, water skiing, hiking, running, biking.

We go to physio to fix whatever injury we have which is good.

Then at the end of your physio sessions, you’ll find that you still have a niggle.

This can be many things.

  • You may have an imbalance of muscles strength as in weak one side and strong the other
  • Your core may not be as strong as you think, so your hip and knee joint are taking the load which leads to wear and tears.

You may be going to a Pilate class or working out at the gym doing ab exercises

You might think you are engaging these core muscle correctly.

  • Do you know how to turn them on
  • Do you know where they are?
  • Are they turned on when exercising?
  • Are you using your core?
  • Or your back when doing every day to day things?

The thing is your core and glute are your power house.

When your powerhouse is weak it is like a dominoes effect as other muscle will have to take the load that they aren’t designed to do.

You are not alone:

1- 3 women in New Zealand and Australia experience pelvic floor dysfunction.

Women need to talk more about this and fix the issue at its cause before it ends up as a serious health issue. You need to know that there is help out there, Strong Core Strong You is the solution to your problem without the use of nasty drugs and other nonsense that doesn’t work. It is about strengthening your Pelvic Floor so that your body can do its job properly.

By talking about these issues you will then find:

  • The right Physio
  • The correct PT(Personal Trainer) and Pilate’s Teacher that knows how to strengthen the pelvic floor and knows the Kegel Exercises.

What are the Kegel Exercises:

Arnold Kegel is the Doctor who invented what we know as the “Kegel Exercises”. He came up with these exercises as the first method of treatment for urinary stress incontinence and female genital prolapse which is known as pelvic floor dysfunction.

To further these exercises, Strong Core Strong You has become known for our developing methods to help both men and women with pelvic floor dysfunction.

How was Strong Core Strong You created?

I’m Jude O’Sullivan,  I have been in the Fitness industry for over 10 years as a Pilates teacher, PT (personal trainer) and a massage therapist.

I found that my clients weren’t recovering from a lot of their injuries or after having kids they were struggling with Pelvic Floor Dysfunction.

By asking the hard questions like, “Are you leaking when exercising or laughing?”, I came to the conclusion that they needed my help in a more profound way.

When my client’s quality of life has been reduced due to a very simple issue that can be fixed, I knew I had to help.

They all had weak pelvic floor muscles and they weren’t exercising them during their normal gym sessions or when going about their day-to-day routines.

I have studied with Jenny Burrell (Burrell Education) and I am an expert in Pelvic Floor Dysfunction. 

I help men and women who suffer from incontinence and pelvic floor dysfunction through private training classes which will help your body naturally and help you regain your self-confidence.

My back ground, Personal training, Pilates, dysfunction of the pelvic floor, Postnatal and Massage therapy.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]