Let's Talk About THOSE Exercises. . .

Exercise. You either love it or hate it. 
You either do it or don't do it. 

But as a woman there is one exercise that you really, really SHOULD do, especially after you've had babies. 

I'm talking, of course, about pelvic floor exercises. 

To be honest I've never really bothered with my pelvic floor exercises. After each kid I've not had any real leakage problems-so I've never worried about it. 

But a few months back my arthritis in my hip flared up, yet again, and I ended up at the Physio. I'm trying so hard to stay off the steroid medication (purely because I hate how much weight I gain while taking steroids). I mentioned the typical mummy lower back pain that I've always had, as I've always mentioned to health care professionals, but this guy was the first to say to me 'have you ever seen a women's health Physio about your pelvic floor.' Well no I've never seen a women's health Physio and never thought I needed to, apart from when I drink lots of water and do star jumps, I'm fine ;-) 
The Physio told me that having a weak pelvic floor-even if you don't have leakage problems-can lead to that typical mummy lower back pain. Who knew right?! 

So off to the women's health Physio I went. I will admit I was slightly nervous. I've never had my pelvic floor muscles checked and I was worried she would tell me it wasn't good. I always had the thought 'please don't let me be a pants wetter when I'm older' but, while my pelvic floor isn't totally destroyed, it is slightly weak. And so I got sent home with instructions to 'do pelvic floor exercises' 

I've been really good and been doing my exercises everyday. And yesterday I went back for a check up. 
I've gone from a 2 second hold to a 6 second hold in 5 weeks and can now do them laying, sitting and standing up. Apparently standing and sitting up are the harder, slightly more important way to do the exercises. 
There are also other exercises that focus on another muscle close to the pelvic floor. It's a similar thing to doing the pelvic floor exercises but you need to focus on trying to draw your hips together, kind of like when you try to button your jeans up. You don't suck your tummy in completely but it's a similar sort of feeling. These are called TA's and I have no idea what that stands for... 

So what's the point of talking about pelvic floor exercises? Well in 5 short weeks of doing these exercises a few times a day I have improved my pelvic floor. My lower back pain??? Well let's just say I've been bike riding, playing tennis, running around with the kids and just generally having a lot more active fun than normal and my back pain is so minimal it's almost non existent!! 

I also had my tummy muscle separation checked and I'm super pleased that somehow, even after carrying 3 above average sized babies, my muscle separation is minimal and I don't need to worry about that at all. 

So mummies-go see a women's health physio, get your pelvic floor muscles checked! It will save you from wearing adult diapers through menopause and beyond but it will also help out with that typical lower back pain that I always assumed was just from carrying babies around!