What are the pelvic floor muscles?

The pelvic floor is a hammock of muscles that lie at the bottom of the pelvis. It plays an important role in bladder and bowel control, including being able to empty your bladder and bowel, support of pelvic organs, lower back stability and sexual function. And men have a pelvic floor too! If your pelvic floor muscles are not working properly or effectively, it can result in poor control of the bladder/ bowel and other pelvic floor concerns. 

In some people, the pelvic floor muscles have difficulty relaxing, which can cause pelvic floor muscle tightness. A tense pelvic floor may result in difficulty emptying the bladder or bowel, pelvic pain or pain during sex. 

Symptoms of pelvic floor muscle concerns 

• Bladder and bowel control problems such as incontinence 

• Pelvic organ prolapse 

• Overactive bladder 

• Constantly needing to empty your bladder or difficulty emptying your bladder 

• Feeling an urgent need to empty your bladder or bowel (urgency) 

• Constipation, difficulty emptying your bowel 

• Pelvic pain such as endometriosis 

• Vaginal or vulval pain (vulvodynia) 

• Pain during sexual intercourse (dyspareunia, vaginismus)  

What can be done to improve incontinence and pelvic floor muscle concerns? 

 Supervised pelvic floor muscle exercises are recommended as the first line of treatment for men and women with urinary incontinence (International Continence Society 2013) 

Pelvic floor muscle exercises can improve prolapse symptoms and severity (International Continence Society 2013) 

It is not as simple as squeezing and lifting… most people try too hard! 

Many people have difficulty isolating the pelvic floor muscles and approximately half of women who learn pelvic floor muscle exercises from a brochure perform the wrong technique (Continence Foundation of Australia). Performing the wrong technique may actually make your problem worse. 

We also treat

• Pregnant/ antenatal or postnatal women with neck, back, pelvic, coccyx or wrist pain 

• Antenatal women for education, preparation for birth and exercise prescription 

• Postnatal women for  

• Painful episiotomy or perineal tears- we have a therapeutic ultrasound machine which can help with perineal pain including haemorrhoids following birth 

• Weak or separated abdominal muscles 

• Blocked ducts & mastitis- we have a therapeutic ultrasound machine which can help with blocked ducts or mastitis 

• Bladder/ bowel dysfunction 

• Return to exercise including running 

• Men health- for example men who have pelvic floor concerns or who have undergone prostate cancer treatment  

• Women who are having or have undergone gynaecological or urological surgery 

• Peri or postmenopausal women with pelvic floor muscle dysfunction 

Bec and Lillie will thoroughly assess your problem, explain your condition, customize an individualized exercise program to suit your needs and ensure you are performing the correct technique. They have a real-time ultrasound machine which provides an image of the pelvic floor in action, giving you instant feedback to help you learn the correct pelvic floor muscle contraction. 

Initial appointments are one hour, to allow time to thoroughly understand and assess your problem. Subsequent appointments are 45 minutes in length. Assessment and treatment are carried out in a private, sensitive environment as we understand that it can be difficult to talk about these problems. 

If you experience any of the above problems or are unsure if you should seek help please contact us 

You do not require a GP/ doctor’s referral to see Bec or Lillie.