A Closer Look at the Core & Pelvic Floor
Who, What & How?
The pelvic floor is like a big basin-shaped structure made of layers of muscles, ligaments, and fascia. It’s basically the base of our body, attaching all the way around the inside of our pelvis from the pubic bone at the front to the coccyx at the back. It’s got openings for the urethra, rectum, and in females, the vagina.
Most of the pelvic floor muscles are the slow and steady type, meant to work for a long time without getting tired. There’s also a smaller percentage of fast-acting muscles that kick in when we cough, jump, or lift something heavy. The pelvic floor fascia blends with involuntary muscle fibers providing support for the pelvic organs and the surrounding structures in all directions.
Our pelvic floor has a lot of plates to spin. It helps to keep our pelvic joints and lower back supported, gives us a sturdy base for movement, and keeps our bladder, uterus, and bowel in the right place. Surprisingly, it even plays a role in speech, breathing and can affect our emotions.
Resting pressure in the muscles maintain closure of the openings, preventing unwanted leakage, and the muscles relax to allow the bladder and bowels to empty when appropriate. The pelvic floor is also hugely important for our sexual function and satisfaction.
So, all things considered, it’s a pretty crucial part of our body!
Issues concerning the pelvic floor can occur at any stage of life, not just during pregnancy and childbirth. While these are important factors, other activities like heavy lifting, intense exercise, chronic constipation, persistent coughing, being overweight, and menopause can also play a role. Additionally, health conditions such as diabetes and neurological disorders may impact the pelvic floor muscles and their functionality.
Contrary to common belief, symptoms related to the pelvic floor are not always a result of weakness. Similar to other muscles in our body, symptoms can stem from weakness, stiffness, fatigue, or overexertion, or from an inability to perform with the necessary speed, endurance, or timing for the specific task at hand. With that being said, our pelvic floor muscles might be in top shape, super speedy, extra strong, and highly flexible, but they’ll only work effectively when they’re balanced and coordinated with the rest of ‘The Core’.
‘The Core’ is a descriptive term for the team of our deepest, innermost muscles, including the diaphragm, pelvic floor, multfidi in the spine, and transversus abdominis, along with their tendons, connective tissues, fascia, nerves, and blood vessels– a muscular corset in the body.
Our core system is vital for our everyday activities like breathing, regulating pressure in our belly, and moving around.
The muscles in our core work in a coordinated way.
When we inhale, our diaphragm moves down, letting air into our lungs, and when we exhale, the diaphragm moves up, pushing the air out, like a big pump. If the other core muscles stayed still, our belly organs like the bladder and intestines would get squashed with every breath. But instead, as the diaphragm moves down, the pelvic floor lowers, the belly muscles stretch to make room, and the lower back curve straightens a bit.
The opposite happens when we exhale.
Pump up the Power
When it comes to core training, there’s been a lot of focus on building strength. But, the core muscles need more than just raw power. Strength is only a small piece of the puzzle when it comes to overall core performance. It’s mainly needed for short bursts, like when we cough, laugh, sit up, lift, or run.
Most of the time, our core muscles work with endurance, providing a continuous, unconscious, low-level effort (resting tone) that stabilises our spine and abdominal organs throughout the day.
Our core muscles have a ‘blueprint’ that develops during childhood, allowing them to anticipate when changes in effort are needed. As we grow, our core muscle system learns to contribute to essential skills like walking, talking, and bladder control.
When our core muscles are working well, studies have found that they automatically contract about 200 milliseconds before our limbs move. When the core system has this capability, it’s called ‘a functional core‘.