The Pelvic Floor Importance
A woman's pelvic floor consists of a large group of muscles that perform a number of important functions. They support the female reproductive organs, enhance sexual pleasure and aid in childbirth. Although these muscles can't be seen as easily as a bicep or hamstring, women can feel them working when they voluntarily stop the flow of urine midstream--which, by the way, isn't advisable.
These muscles work like any other muscle in the body. In other words, if you don't use it, you'll lose it. "Without regular resistance exercise, those muscles lose 80 percent of their strength by the time a woman turns 65," says Daniel S. Stein, M.D., medical director of the Foundation for Intimacy in Tampa, Florida, and a board-certified gynecologist.
According to Stein, deconditioning of the pelvic floor muscles begins as early as the late teens and progressively worsens. Almost all of his patients, even those in their twenties and women who haven't had children, have experienced significant weakening of these muscles. "The lack of resistance exercise causes vaginal muscle atrophy in all women, not just women who give birth. Of course, childbirth overstretching and subsequent lack of resistance exercise of these internal muscles makes matters worse and the need for post-partum resistance exercise, to restore tone and tightness, even more important," explains Stein.
When vaginal muscle atrophy occurs, problems arise. According to the National Institutes of Health, perhaps the most common problem is urinary incontinence, which strikes at least 40 million people in this country (mainly women and the elderly). Urinary incontinence (a preventable but embarrassing leakage) is often provoked by a sudden movement like a cough, sneeze, laugh or jump.
Furthermore, weak pelvic floor muscles can't properly support women's reproductive organs. Over time, these organs drop lower in the body, causing lower back discomfort and pain, especially during intercourse. This weakening also decreases women's stimulation during intercourse. Moreover, without strength, vaginal muscles in women who have just given birth won't recover as quickly as they would if they were strong.
"All of these problems can be prevented," says Suzanne Sloan, president of Naissance Holdings L.C., manufacturer of GyneFlex[TM]. "You have to start by being fit internally," Sloan adds.
