Many women that I meet socially who ask me about my work will quickly reveal that since they had kids, they will “pee themselves” if they jump on trampolines or go to bootcamp classes. I live in a suburban town where many people have large trampolines in their yards, so it seems quite likely that many women have tried jumping and discovered that their pelvic floors were weaker than they imagined. Bootcamp in the park may have gone by the wayside as more women realized they needed to be by a bathroom when they exercise. The surprising thing to me is that so many women shrug off the leakage and laugh with each other about it. They mention that they know doing Kegels would help, but they just haven’t made the comittment to follow through. I think that the bigger problem is perhaps that their pelvic floor muscles have gotten so weak that when they try to do a Kegel (which is a contraction and release of the pelvic floor muscles) it’s hard to identify it, feel it and there is just not enough feedback to make it motivating. It is much more gratifying to stand in front of the mirror at the gym and see your biceps tighten with a 10 pound weight in your hand.
That is why pelvic floor physical therapy is a game changer for so many women. If you can’t feel or identify your muscles, it will be very difficult to strengthen them enough to stop the leakage. If you don’t know that the crunches and heavy squats are detrimental to your bladder health, then you won’t stop the leakage. At Four Corners Physical Therapy, we can help you restore and strengthen your pelvic floor muscles and stop the leak. Maybe even get back on the trampoline!