When was the last time you heard someone say they avoid jumping jacks at the gym for fear of leakage or potentially stopped doing certain activities with their children because they might have an accident? The symptoms of weak pelvic floor muscles are rampant, and yet despite 66% of women experiencing some amount of bladder leakage and urinary incontinence, there seem to be few products available that treat the root cause of the problem.
Women have found ways to live life around their leakage, laxity, sexual dysfunction, or whatever other symptoms they may have as a result of weak pelvic floor muscles. For those women who do struggle with a weak pelvic floor, it’s important to understand what exercises to avoid with weak pelvic floor muscles. First, let’s look at what causes these weak muscles in the first place.
What Causes Weak Pelvic Floor Muscles?
The pelvic muscles are just like any other muscle in the body. They need to be strengthened in order to function properly. There are a number of different things that happen over a person’s lifetime that can put additional strain on the muscles, which means it’s important to maintain them so they can recover more quickly.
Some of the more common reasons that women may start to have weakened pelvic floor muscles are being pregnant, not just giving birth. The weight of a baby growing in a woman’s body over a nine-month period will absolutely strain the muscles. Other common causes include high-intensity exercise, weight gain, hormonal changes, aging, and just the natural progression of life.
Not sure if you’re living with the symptoms of weak pelvic floor muscles? Take our quiz to find out.
What is Pelvic Organ Prolapse (POP)?
Pelvic organ prolapse is when the organs start to descend from the body, and in more severe cases start to leave the body. This is a result of weak pelvic floor muscles that are no longer able to support all of the organs and results in them starting to leave the body.
There are four stages or degrees of prolapse, the first and second are less severe and can be treated with pelvic floor exercises. The third and fourth-degree are more extreme and may require surgical treatment. Usually, the beginning stages of prolapse cause a general feeling of heaviness, and over time, as the organs start to descend further, it can cause uncomfortable pelvic pain.
6 Prolapse Exercises To Avoid
For those who are trying to manage existing prolapse, it’s important to eliminate any exercises that cause too much “bearing down” or excessive pressure on the pelvic floor muscles. This can exacerbate the prolapse and cause more discomfort. Let’s look at some of the prolapsed uterus exercises to avoid.
Running
Anyone experiencing pelvic floor weakness should be wary of running. This exercise causes repetitive pounding on the pelvic floor muscles, which can exacerbate existing symptoms.
Jumping
High-intensity exercises like jumping put a massive amount of downward pressure on the pelvic floor muscles at one time. This movement over and over can strain the muscles and result in immediate symptoms like fecal, gas, or urine leakage.
Extended aerobic exercise
Even more gentle aerobic exercises can negatively impact someone experiencing prolapse. This is due to general exhaustion that happens to the muscles, eventually leading to them giving out during the exercise and weakening the muscles overall.
Weight lifting
With weight lifting, the main culprit here is the body’s tendency to bear down when lifting something heavy. This could be lifting something heavy at the gym or something around the house.
Squats
Squats are a combination of bearing down and repetitive downward pressure on the pelvic floor muscles. This type of exercise commonly results in a flow of urine for women experiencing any sort of pelvic floor weakness and can be especially problematic for those experiencing prolapse.
High-intensity abdominal exercises
Any crunching motion or impact exercise that puts a lot of strain on the pelvic floor muscles can have a negative effect on the muscle group due to the existing weakness. It’s important to build up the pelvic floor muscles before trying to strengthen the abdominal muscles to avoid worsening symptoms. Intense core exercises are a no-go unless your pelvic floor muscles are strong.
Hopefully, now that you know about exercises to avoid with weak pelvic floor muscles, you can exercise worry-free. With that said, it’s also time to properly exercise your pelvic floor muscles and build them up. Read on to learn how to strengthen your pelvic floor muscles safely and effectively.
Strengthen Your Pelvic Floor Muscles With Kegelbell
At Kegelbell, we believe that everyone should be able to live their life to the fullest, and not have to avoid activities they love for fear of prolapse, leakage, laxity, or sexual dysfunction. That’s why we created Kegelbell, a device for safe exercises that actually helps women strengthen their pelvic floor muscles instead of just covering up the issue.
Kegelbell is the first externally weighted pelvic floor muscle training device that can be used in the privacy of your bathroom. After using Kegelbell for just five minutes, three times a week, our customers start to see a reduction in their symptoms, including the initial stages of prolapse. There are also a number of complementary exercises to add to your exercise routine that can help address pelvic organ prolapse.
Our goal is to make it so that women can jump, run, or do whatever it is they want without the fear of their bodies not supporting them. Learn more about Kegelbell and get started on your pelvic floor training journey today.
