Menopause and your pelvic floor

Menopause, like puberty, is a stage in our lives where, although things may feel out of control, there are some positive changes that we can absolutely do to influence the effect of those hormonal imbalances.  Things like vaginal dryness, pain with intercourse, having to race to the bathroom more often, having to get up at night to go to the toilet, and feeling like you’ve got less control over the bladder and bowel. Although these symptoms are common, you do not need to accept them!

The muscles of the pelvic floor respond to estrogen, and so like many other muscles in the body, as estrogen levels fall your pelvic floor will demand a bit more attention!  Connecting with your wonderful pelvic floor muscles and engaging with pelvic floor muscle exercises have been shown to improve blood flow to your vagina, to improve vaginal lubrication, to improve vaginal flexibility, as well as improving your pelvic floor muscle function, the net result being better bladder and bowel control and better sexual function. Woo hoo!

There is also good evidence that other simple changes, can make big differences to many of these symptoms. Weight management and healthy lifestyles, including physical activity, eating well and stopping smoking, are known to improve the symptoms of urinary incontinence (UI), pelvic organ prolapse and even constipation.

So, how do I know what a ‘good’ pelvic floor muscle exercise programme is?

Pelvic floor muscle exercise (PFME) is defined as an exercise programme that increases muscle strength, endurance, power, flexibility, and relaxation and is an undisputed method for the effective treatment and prevention of UI.  We know this from many clinical trials, including trials with post-menopausal women (1).  A recent study looked specifically at the prevention of UI.  359 women who were NOT symptomatic of UI were recruited to be part of a supervised PFME programme, and the results found these women were less likely to develop symptoms of incontinence, had an increase in pelvic floor muscle strength, and needed to go to the toilet less often.  This was compared to women who were just given information about PFME, but no instruction or help on how to do them (2).

This is where femfit® is here to help

Not only does it give you visibility on your pelvic floor muscles to make sure you are doing your exercises correctly, but the training programme is progressive and evidence-based, so you will do enough to get the required changes. The size, shape, and nature of femfit® itself is also easier to use, being very slim, flexible and made from a soft medical grade silicone.

So, here is the challenge

Can you discover the power of your pelvic floor and do your exercises right every day this week with femfit?

There is a special discount code femfit+WHW for all women during Women’s Health Week (12th-18^th August).

Get on board today!

For more information on menopause and the pelvic floor, check out this video by Pelvic Health Physiotherapist, Hannah Orr, or head to our website.

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