The Pelvic Floor
The Pelvic Floor like any other muscle in our body exists both in Females and Males. Unless something goes wrong ‘down there’ the pelvic floor muscles is not something that we think of.
For the Men out there, here are a few reasons why you may want to start thinking about your pelvic floor health:
The Pelvic Floor Makes Up Part Of Your Core
The pelvic floor makes part of your core (The core is not just your 6-pack muscles it is some much more!). Think of your core as a cylinder with the abdominal muscles being the round surface, the diaphragm (muscles sitting under the lungs) at the lid and the pelvic floor the bottom. In order for you to have a strong core you need to have a strong pelvic floor. You may be wondering, why would I need a strong core? The core muscles are the foundation to your body, like a house – if you don’t build a house on a good strong foundation you may experience issues in the future.
Having a strong and healthy pelvic floor has an impact of your sex life, by helping you gain and maintain erections as well as improving ejaculation.
A Strong & Healthy Pelvic Floor Is Important
In addition, a strong and healthy pelvic floor provides support and voluntary control of your pelvic organs, the bladder and the bowel. This becomes very important post-prostatectomy (the removal of the prostate gland).Prostate cancer is the second most common cancer diagnoses in men in Australia and in most cases man will undergo surgery to remove this glad. After this surgical procedure it is very common for men to suffer from urinary incontinence, which is why having a strong and healthy pelvic floor is crucial.
How To Find Your Pelvic Floor
The Pelvic floor is a muscle at the base of your pelvis, from tail bone to pubic bone.
So imagine you are in a lift full of people with a sudden urge to pass wind and you are trying to hold it in – this is engaging the pelvic floor muscle at the back closer to the tail bone.
Now for the muscles more at the front – visualise stopping the flow of urine, think of ‘shortening the penis and lifting the testes’. An analogy that can be useful is ‘nuts to guts’, this is something you may have experienced before when you’ve run into freezing cold water!
It is good to have a general awareness and understand the importance of your pelvic floor. However if you find that the is something wrong ‘down there’ and you are experiencing abnormal urinary symptoms, bowel symptoms of any pain with sex or pelvic plain please contact your health care practitioner and/or a physiotherapist with an interest in Men’s Health. To find a Physio near you, you can visit this link.
