Pelvic floor 101: how to improve bladder control

The pelvic floor is the group of muscles that support your uterus, bladder and bowel.

Pelvic floor muscles affect everything from bowel and bladder health to childbirth and even how satisfying your sex life is.

And yet, they rarely get the attention they deserve.

What is the pelvic floor?

Your pelvic floor consists of muscles, ligaments and other tissue that stretch back to front (from your pubic bone to your backbone) and side to side. Think of your pelvic floor as a hammock that holds up all your pelvic organs, ensuring they’re functioning properly.

A weak pelvic floor is often the culprit for urinary incontinence.

The pelvic floor is an important piece of the female health puzzle, but it often gets neglected. A survey of 1,000 women found that a quarter of those surveyed don’t know what the role of the pelvic floor is, while one in six don’t even know where their pelvic floor muscles are.

You can blame that on a lack of research into women’s health and terrible (better yet, inexistent) RSE most of us received – but that’s a conversation for another time.

What do the pelvic floor muscles do?

So, what’s all the fuss with pelvic floor muscles, and why are they so important?

Your pelvic floor is responsible for several important functions, including:

• pelvic organ support (to prevent prolapse)

• bladder and bowel control

• sexual sensation

• providing support for a foetus during pregnancy.

Pelvic floor muscles and bladder control

The urethra, anus and vagina all pass through the pelvic floor muscles, which stay slightly tense to avoid urine, gas or faeces from leaking.

When you need the toilet, your pelvic floor muscles relax to allow your urethral sphincter to open and release urine, then tighten back up once you’ve emptied your bladder.

The pelvic floor muscles also tighten when you laugh, cough, sneeze, jump or lift heavy weights to prevent any leaks.

When your pelvic floor is weak, these activities can often lead to involuntary leakage, known as stress incontinence.

Another result of a weak pelvic floor is urge incontinence – when you feel a sudden, intense urge to pee that results in involuntary leaks.

So if you’ve ever experienced a leaky bladder, it could be because of a weak pelvic floor.

Pelvic floor problems can happen when the pelvic floor muscles are too weak, tight or stretched. The most common causes of pelvic floor dysfunction are pregnancy, childbirth, hormonal changes during menopause, or trauma (such as surgery).

Pelvic floor issues are a lot more common than you’d think, with up to one in three women will experience pelvic floor issues at some point in their life.

Pelvic floor exercises for bladder control

So your pelvic floor muscles are key for bladder health, and like with all muscles, they can be kept strong and healthy with a little bit of exercise.

Don’t worry, you won’t need access to a gym to train your pelvic floor!

By now you’ve probably heard of Kegels, the pelvic floor exercises named after the American gynaecologist who invented them.

Although Kegels are often touted as the go-to for better orgasms, they were originally created as a non-surgical treatment of urinary incontinence – and they’ve been shown to improve symptoms in up to 70% of cases of stress incontinence.

How to do pelvic floor exercises

Kegel exercises focus on tightening and holding the muscles that control urine flow. You can do them anywhere while sitting, standing or lying down. Here are some tips on how to correctly do Kegels:

• Start by relaxing your thighs, abs and glutes.

• Squeeze the muscles around your anus and vagina at the same time. Try to envision these muscles lifting up into your pelvis.

• Hold the squeeze for as long as you can (around 5-8 seconds), then let them go and relax completely.

• Rest for about 10 seconds, then repeat a few more times.

• Do these once a day.

While doing pelvic floor exercises, remember to keep breathing normally and keep your glutes and thighs relaxed.

Poor bladder health shouldn’t be a “normal” part of ageing or childbirth — that’s why we created the Bladder Care Handbook: our guide to life’s trickly moments. Download your free copy for expert tips on how to look after your bladder.