COVID and The Pelvic Floor - The Washington Post Weighs In
Sitting and Stressing Even Gets to Your Pelvic Floor, say experts in a Washington Post article.
Squats won’t help if you don’t know your pelvic floor. Image source: The Washington Post, stock image
The Washington Post, August 19, 2021, features a long article on the pelvic floor, how people don’t understand anything about it, and how tik-tok videos on the topic are all the rage. I’ve read the article and pulled out the highlights for you:
“The coronavirus pandemic has been blamed for a rise in mental health conditions, weight gain, broken toes, skin picking and dental issues. But, according to physical therapists and urologists, it also may be responsible for problems in an often-overlooked part of our bodies: the pelvic floor....
“The combination of stress and then just sitting and not getting up to go to do those different activities throughout your workday definitely seem to have contributed to people’s symptoms,” said Alicia Jeffrey-Thomas, a pelvic floor physical therapist at Greater Boston Urology....
“The pelvic floor is complicated,” said Emily Slopnick, a urologist at the Cleveland Clinic who has specialty training in female pelvic medicine and reconstructive surgery. “It’s a part of our body that most of us are not used to being aware of or thinking about.”
Overactive muscles are often responsible for pain symptoms and can also complicate urination and make it harder to have a bowel movement. Although people often associate underactive — longer and overstretched — muscles with urinary incontinence, experts emphasized that the overactive muscles, which are also weak and not coordinated, could be to blame.
People often make the mistake of thinking that the solution to any problem in the pelvic area is to just do the contractions known as kegel exercises, said Slopnick, the Cleveland Clinic urologist. “The problem is if there are any undiagnosed issues with pelvic muscle tension or tightness, you can make things worse,” she said, adding: “It’s not all about the muscles being strong. It’s also that the muscles need to be coordinated and also need to be able to relax appropriately.””
The article notes that a new breed of Tik-tok videos on pelvic floor health and awareness have gone viral.
And you could go to Tik-tok for this intimate form of education. Or you can follow the step-by-step program, “Pelvic Floor Health and Awareness.” Sure, learn the latest dance or sea shanty on Tik-tok, but for something as important and intimate as the pelvic floor, you can do better. Hint hint hint.
Thanks to colleague Laurie Draper, Feldenkrais 4280, for sharing this article.