Stability in our pelvic floor is an integral part of our deep core strength, our spine control and our breathing, and is key to avoiding problems with incontinence and prolapse. For stability, our pelvic floor needs to be strong but not rigid. Stability requires us to combine two apparently very different things; resilience and movement. Successfully balancing these two components is the key to healthy function.

A healthy pelvic floor allows us to control our bowel movements and urination, and to enjoy sexual intercourse. For all of this we need our pelvic floor to be dynamic, able to fully release or fully engage, and to switch readily back and forth between these two states as we breathe and walk. This dynamic balance must be established before we can work at strengthening our pelvic floor.

To get a sense of how this works, imagine yourself jumping on a trampoline. The webbed fabric acts as a shock absorber. It is strong and yet springy. One moment it stretches and the next it springs back. But what if the fabric of the trampoline was pulled down and held, preventing it from springing back? The trampoline no longer works. This can occur to our pelvic floors, and over time can create a weakness in its muscles.

Exactly how does this happen?

Until recently, it was thought that a weak pelvic floor is one that literally allows things to fall through the pelvis. You may still come across this view, which is rooted in now-outdated anatomical thinking that lacked an appreciation of biotensegrity. In a pre-biotensegrity world, the body was seen as a stack of components; bones stacked one on top of the other with gravity pulling down. In this world, if anything falls it needed pushing up via the tightening of muscles. The modern view is different.

Over the last 40 years, the steady development of myofacial science has been moving us away from the idea that our bodies are built of stacked components, and towards the idea that our bodies rely on the balance of tension in an elastic web. Our bodies are actually built with a dynamic suspension system, a fascial web encasing everything (muscles, bones, organs) within it. Our shape is maintained by a balance of tension across this entire structure. Within this biotensegrity system, things cannot fall, therefore what might look like a weakness in the pelvic floor can in fact be too much tension in the nearby soft tissue, pulling our suspension system out of alignment. So, as hard as we try to relax our pelvic floor it may be impossible for us to do so effectively until we find the tension within the pelvis.

Where does this tension come from? Often, through tightness in the abdomen, adductors, deep hip rotators, glutes and feet fascially pulling on the pelvic floor.

There are lots of ways that tension can get into the system. It could be an injury, such as a fall or a knock to the pelvis, or a chronic movement disfunction such as an issue in the foot, ankle, or knee that leads you to limp. Over time these things can build up tension within the pelvis. Trauma and emotions can also cause tension. That feeling you get in the pit of your stomach when you receive bad news, or you’re about to go into a high stress situation - this feeling unknowingly causes physical tension in the pelvic tissues. In women any kind of scar tissue from labour can cause a three dimensional pull through the pelvis and its surrounding areas. Poor posture can also add tension to our pelvis.

To bring our internal suspension system back into balance, it is important to look at all the structures that connect to the pelvis, the abdomen, adductors, deep hip rotators and glutes and also the structures that work in synergy with the pelvic floor such as our diaphragm. We can work at maintaining length in these muscles by stretching them or through yoga, pilates, Feldenkrais, meditation, breathing techniques and remedial massage.

Keeping these muscles flexible, strong and healthy will give us a dynamic, elastic pelvic floor which can readily engage and release. Once you have achieved this, you are ready to strengthen your pelvic floor and one of the best ways of doing this is through nordic walking.

Your Pelvic Floor: what's pulling it down?

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