Prevention is in The Intention

The people I work with want to learn how to prevent problems after surgery. 

Usually, they’re expecting specific pelvic floor exercises or a stretching routine, but that’s only a small part of the picture.

Our best chance of prevention is in the intention of our exercise.

We have great evidence that frailty and sarcopenia (muscle loss) are two of the biggest risk factors for pelvic floor dysfunction. 

That means maintaining and building muscle and staying physically fit are critical after surgery. 

But isn’t lifting also bad for the pelvic floor? Nope!

That is, not when you lift correctly. 

Here are some things I frequently have to tell clients to do:

• Slow down

• Breathe

• Get stable through their feet

• Engage their deep cores

• Bring the ribs over the pelvis

You can apply these concepts to any and all exercises, but studies have found that glute exercises have the best pelvic floor strengthening effects, like:

• Hip thrusts

• Lunges

• Squats

• Step ups

These exercises are more effective at pelvic floor strengthening than isolated pelvic floor strengthening if they’re performed well.

You could have 2 women, both doing these exercises. Let’s call them Sasha and Sara.

Sasha does these exercises, but she’s always rushing; she holds her breath and doesn’t pay attention to her muscle-mind connection. She still gets a good sweat going.

Sara does these exercises with intention. She slows her pace, focuses on her muscle connection, and reminds herself to breathe. She’s more concerned with finding muscle fatigue than getting a good sweat going. 

Sara will have better results from her exercises, even though they’re doing the same things.

This is prevention with intention.

Repeat for a lifetime? Magic happens.

And by the way, this is only referring to the exercise-related piece of prevention. Hormones, stress, nutrition, and bowel and bladder habits all play a part too! Stay tuned for more on those.