Want a happy, well functioning pelvic floor?
Then you want yours to be strong enough to do it's job and not too tight from overworking trying to stabilize your hips and core.
One of the easiest way for your body to create the stability you need it, is by bearing down on your pelvic floor.
This is often your body's go -to strategy to give you support when your core isn't working properly.
This means that you tend to push pressure down onto your pelvic floor when you carry a washing basket full of wet towels or lift your kid.
Constant pressure down on your pelvic floor is bad news.
It can lead to your symptoms getting worse or even pelvic organ prolapse -and no-one wants that!
Bearing down adds extra stress onto your pelvic floor making you leak when you sneeze and stopping your core from working properly.
This means you need to address what's going on with your pelvic floor if you're working on a diastasis recti, leaking or prolapse.
Ok, so you know you want to avoid bearing down to protect your pelvic floor.
Your next step is to find out how you automatically load your core and pelvic floor throughout your day.
Take this quick and easy test to see how if you bear down on your pelvic floor.
How did you do?
If you don't bear down, that's great - you're loading your pelvic floor the right way.
But you'll need to keeping looking for other causes of your your pelvic floor symptoms.
How to stop bearing down
What about if you do bear down?
How do you stop?
You'll need to retrain how you load your core and pelvic floor.
The first step is to figure out why your body likes to bear down.
What weakness or dysfunction are you compensating for?
(Pay attention to your toilet habits as well- constipation and pushing when you pee can be big red flags.)
The best place to start is by looking at what's going on with the top of your core pressure system.....your breathing and how you diaphragm moves.
After you have worked on your breathing, then you can start focusing on getting your deep corset ab muscles (transverse abdominals) working properly.
These muscles have the job of controlling your core pressure and having them in good working order takes the extra load off your pelvic floor.
This means you stop bearing down to create the stability your body needs.
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