Barriers to doing your pelvic floor muscle exercises (and how to overcome them)

In this article, we’ll explore the never-ending list of excuses reasons why you can’t do your pelvic floor muscle exercises.

The aim of this list is to challenge logic commonly used and expose its faults.

Reasons why you can't do your pelvic floor muscle exercises

• You’re much too busy to add pelvic floor muscles exercises into your daily routine. (In fact, you’re considering eliminating brushing your teeth, flossing, doing the dishes, hovering, showering, sleeping, drinking water, because you’re THAT busy.)

• It's much easier (less stressful and cost efficient) for you to buy pads (for the rest of your life) than it is to spend a couple minutes a day exercising your pelvic floor muscles.

• You’d rather live in fear of having accidents (for the rest of your life) than speak to anyone about it, let alone seek help from your GP.

• You’d prefer to stop exercising all together than exercise the one muscle group that makes it possible to move freely without fear of leaking.

• We could continue like this for days but we think you get the idea...

Bottom line - it's not easy!

Finding, understanding and engaging your pelvic floor muscles is really tricky. For some people it’s a riddle, wrapped in a mystery, inside an enigma.

Pelvic muscles are hidden

By default, the pelvic floor muscle group is not as clear or straightforward as other muscle groups like your quadriceps or biceps - one’s where you can physically watch contract and release.

It's not something we talk about

Combine that with the fact that symptoms of pelvic floor muscle dysfunction involve normal bodily waste functions, which in contemporary society are only deemed appropriate for behind closed doors.

This adds a level of social stigma and reinforces hiding the issue rather than openly talking about it and seeking help – like you would for other muscular issues like a strained back or injured calf.

Everyone has a pelvic floor

Just like the book that parents give children, “Everyone poops’ – it’s as if every adult should be gifted the book “Everyone has a pelvic floor” to help them understand that what they experience is normal and nothing to be ashamed of.

So if your pelvic floor isn’t doing its job, that’s okay! It happens to a lot of people. In fact, at least one in three women will experience urinary incontinence at some point in their lives. And one in ten men leak too. It can affect anyone with a pelvis.

Make exercise a priority (like brushing your teeth)

You work other muscles to stay fit and healthy. Why wouldn’t you do the same for your pelvic floor muscles? Pelvic floor muscle exercises can help and have up to an 84% cure rate when performed correctly.

If you’re experiencing leaks or have lost confidence in your pelvic floor, take care of yourself and ask for help from your GP or a specialist pelvic health physiotherapist.

P.S. There are physiotherapists out there who specialise in helping people regain confidence in their pelvic floor! We’ve even started a directory of UK pelvic health physios to help you find one nearby.