Pelvic Floor Aware Exercise 4All Project

02/01/2023

Sorry for the late wishes🙈

03/11/2022

The Reverse Sit Up

If you have pelvic floor issues think carefully on the exercises you do.

The reverse sit up is one exercise that might interest you if you are in perimenopause or menopause, it's at this time most women notice they have developed a tummy pouch. This exercise might be useful, near in mind though you must include a healthy diet also to really see changes in your tummy.

I have personally tried this exercise myself, when I do it, I follow with superman and my back has been ok, as i do have scoliosis. I do throw in pelvic tilts with heel slides and arm and leg extensions as it's important to work your core.

Did You Know? If you do this exercise it actually helps back ache? But make sure to tilt backwards only slightly if you do suffer with lower back pain, you might want to throw in the superman straight after and hold it on each side for 10 seconds. Do about 3 reps of superman.

If you don't like getting down on the floor to do ab exercises, this might be the one for you it's easier doing standing exercises sometimes. It will strengthen your core and firm up your abdomen.

To do the reverse sit up: (standing)
Begin by standing up, then bending back while tightening up your stomach muscles and glutes to protect your back. You don’t have to go very far back on the first try. Just bend enough so that you feel your belly stretching. Do this a few more times, trying to go just a little farther on each repetition. And go slowly, feeling your muscles tighten as you stretch backward. This exercise will create intra-abdominal pressure, so to keep the exercise safe for the pelvic floor, pull up on the pelvic floor as you extend backwards and make sure to exhale at the same time, as you come up, relax the pelvic floor and return to the standing position.

You may only do five reps on your first try. That’s enough to get started. Go slow, and feel those muscles tighten and flex. You can add more reps the next time. Set goals for yourself as you progress, increasing each time for what is suitable for your ability. If you do multiple sets, consider arching your back forward between sets.

If you’d like to view a YouTube on this topic, click the link below.

As ever, good pelvic floor health to you. 🌹

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30/06/2022

Do you Sneeze Wee?
Don't Worry Just Use The 'knack'

It’s that time of the year when you can’t help but sneeze if you suffer from hay fever! I know I’ve had some really long strong bouts of sneezing and if I hadn’t strengthened my pelvic floor by doing kegels, I’d have leakage problems for sure.

What is the Knack?
'The Knack' is a strong and well-timed contraction of the pelvic floor muscles, it is also known as Counter Bracing Technique (CBT), It involves the pelvic floor muscles contracting immediately before and during an increase in downward pressure on the pelvic floor. 'The Knack' is literally just a kegel used when you know you are going to create pressure in your abdominal area, such as with a sneeze or a cough and lifting heavy things, please check how to do kegels here: https://pelvicfloorawareexercise4all.wordpress.com/__trashed/
Then you can use them when you have to use the ‘Knack’

Women often lose the ability to automatically contract their pelvic floor muscles due to pregnancy and childbirth, after some types of pelvic floor surgery or pelvic radiation therapy, or with repeated straining to empty the bowels. I can testify to this issue so please never strain just eat some wholesome plant-based food to keep you regular. By actively contracting their pelvic floor muscles, women can often overcome the bladder leakage that occurs with lost automatic activity.

‘The Knack’ is a nifty thing to know and can be used with events or activities that increase downward pressure upon your pelvic floor such as:
• Coughing
• Sneezing
• Lifting
• Blowing your nose
• Rising into standing from sitting
• Stepping down heavily

So for those pollen filled days where you just can’t help sneezing, use the ‘Knack’

As ever keep in good pelvic floor health.
🌹

08/03/2022

International Women's Day

I might not be completely focusing on or getting the jist of what International Women's day is for this year (so forgive me if I go off on a tangent but you decide 😊)

For me personally, I'd like to focus on EQUITY too! But FAIRNESS for WOMEN'S HEALTH and to highlight as ever birth injuries with the pelvic floor being one big problem amongst many! Maybe others who've had children have had a smooth journey but for the majority I think after having a baby in particular, they are left with issues well after the baby has grown up!

So if today its a day we are 'celebrating progress on the path to gender EQUITY' and equity I understand to mean FAIRNESS, let's think about how UNFAIR it is for women to suffer in silence even in this day and age in matters of their own health, we need to be empowered with knowledge 💪🏾 on our health so that we can live fuller lives and be all that that we should be, a strong mother, wife, daughter and sister, then we can truly progress.

Please all women who've had birth injuries stop 🤚🏾 ignoring symptoms of ill health, such as leaking when just laughing, coughing, sneezing, picking up your children, shopping, when running for a bus and trying to keep fit by exercising, all these activities bring on the symptoms that can so get us down. The list is long of birth injuries sustained by just going through a natural life process, diastasis recti is another problem which can cause hernias and lower back pain, pelvic pain arises which can be horrendous, prolapse the list goes on and on.

So STOP ✋! What you're doing right now and think of symptoms you have whatever they may be and look carefully at them, can you do something about them? You can't be your best with health issues. Go to your GP if they bother you and you've had them for as long as you can remember, as they will only linger on and in many instances get worse. If its pelvic floor issues that have been hanging around for a while now, take a look at some of the articles on this page, or do a Google search if you choose and just use TODAY to make a start on looking after yourself, ❤ empower yourself with knowledge that you can improve whatever your health issue is.

Good Pelvic floor health to you 🌹

16/02/2022

Real Life Stories of Success

I was thinking what could I do a post about, as I've not posted in quite some time, I wanted a post to encourage everyone to be aware of their pelvic floor health.

For me personally, I'm encouraged when I hear about real life stories of how people overcame a problem in their life and particularly issues that are close to my heart.

I've found a wonderful website by
pelvicpartnership.org

https://pelvicpartnership.org.uk/category/my-story-stories-from-women-who-have-experienced-pgp/

The second article on that page, titled
My story: a problem with the waterworks, is a fact I realised at the begining of my own journey, that you must do the pelvic floor exercises correctly, as they just won't work and you will think they're no use....... Please read the article, here's a little extract from it;

"Anyway, the upshot of it all, and the reason I am writing this article, is it turns out that I was doing my pelvic floor exercises wrong. I bet most of you don’t know this, but you can’t just do any old squeezing and hope for the best, you have to squeeze properly. You’ve got muscles at the front and at the back (i.e. towards your a**s and towards your bladder) and you have to squeeze all of them. I was only using the ones at the back. It took me quite a few goes but I finally found the front ones and found I could squeeze them a little bit, but not very well.
So Ms Evans sent me away to practise, which I did religiously five times a day, and I gradually got better and better until I could squeeze hard for a much longer time. It also turned out that I’d been doing sit-ups incorrectly and that had weakened my pelvic floor, maybe even causing the problem in the first place.
Unfortunately I can’t say for definite whether I am fully cured, because I had a car accident (ironically on the way home from the physiotherapy) which meant I’ve had to stop going to the gym for the moment. However, experimental jumping up and down with a full bladder seems to indicate that I no longer need to buy shares in TENA Lady and I feel very optimistic about the whole thing.

This one made me laugh 😃 because I've been going on about TENA Lady for some time now, save your money, 🙏🏾 pelvic floor exercises are usually the first port of call when experiencing pelvic floor weakness symptoms.

Please check out my page on the project blog, there are many things involved that you must be aware of when doing your kegels. Please follow the link if you want to find out how to do them correctly.
https://pelvicfloorawareexercise4all.wordpress.com/__trashed/

These stories should encourage you 😊

Good pelvic floor health to you 🌹

15/11/2021

I just want to say THANK YOU! To all the participants who took part in the project, it ended on July 31st.

I apologise for lack of posts these past few months, as I was dealing with illness and a bereavement in my family. My father passed away on the last day of the project, so I could not attend to anything at that time.

Forgive me for the delay in saying thank you to everyone who supported the project, by watching the videos, downloading the ebook, doing zoom meetings for exercise or seeking advice via email.

I hope you gained benefit, you are welcome to still ask any questions concerning pelvic floor health, even though the project work for now has ended. Send me a private message if you would prefer or post it here. The projects' aim is to empower you with knowledge to understand, improve and eradicate your pelvic floor ill health problems.

As ever good pelvic floor health to you.🌹

04/05/2021

Hello everyone, now that the videos are complete, I thought I'd just create a YouTube channel and put them on there. (I do plan to put a banner on at some point, it looks a little bare at present) https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PL_Tu8mVPAkwM4pwxn6fpyMt-v1wei_g7s

As you will see I don't have any subscribers, 🙈 which is ok, as I don't really plan to put anything more on there at present, (unless there was a request 👀 then by all means subscribe and I'll do my best to post things) but the channel was created to allow the videos to be watched more conveniently and who knows it might come in handy at a later date so it might be a good idea to subscribe 🤔or for another project. 😁 Thumbs up and likes 👍🏾 would be greatly appreciated, especially comments, anything that would promote the project work is a great help.

Most of all, I need your 👇🏾 participation, those who have participated have commented on how important this kind of project is, as they know many women out there who are suffering in silence and have many pelvic floor issues they keep secret because of embarrassment, such as leaking, prolapse and pelvic pain.

Please 🙏🏽 join in the project activities, download the ebook, participate in the pelvic safe core exercise (remember the wrong type of exercise can make pelvic floor dysfunction worse) 1-1 or group class meetings, (just inform me of a date and time and I'll pass you the details) I'm happy to use whatever medium is best for you, zoom, WhatsApp, messenger, Teams etc.

If you just want advice and how to do kegels correctly, please ring the project or email and we can liaise there. While there is an opportunity to speak freely on this particular topic please use it. 😀 Even after the project is over, we would still be glad to pass on any advice.

As ever good pelvic floor health to you 🌹

04/05/2021

Just sharing this 🌹

WoW Wellness Weekend - BUSINESS SUPPORT

If you're a local organisation with a link to HEALTH & WELLNESS... it could be fitness, nutrition, healthcare, mental wellbeing & support, kids or adult clubs, life skills or education around these themes, then we'd welcome your support for our WoW Wellness Weekend: 15/16th May 2021.

You could be a business, charity, social enterprise or public sector.

To pledge your support, drop WoW an email:

WoWWellnessWeekend@gmail.com

and you'll be invited to include promotional flyers about your organisation & link to our WELLNESS theme for inclusion in our WELLNESS PACKS.
These will be distributed to every household registering, a few days before the event.

***Do tag friends & family who might not see this post, but have a clear link to the WELLNESS or 'feel good' theme. This is a community event & we'll do our best to include as many people as we can.***

12/04/2021

If by any chance you stumbled upon our project page from the Wellness Weekend (15-16th May) please join in the project and read on 😀

Well that's the last of the videos uploaded! Please go back through the posts or just go to the videos section where you will find them all.
Thank you for your patience 💕 🙏🏽

The project would like to now offer zoom meetings or messenger meetings, where we can do the exercises as a group or if you'd prefer even 1-1. The project's aim is to help as many individuals as we can learn the importance of carrying out exercise that is safe for the pelvic floor, as it is part of your core. Not looking after it can cause devastating, debilitating symptoms that affect your quality of life, if you engage in the wrong type of exercises for your changed body after pregnancy, or if you fall into the at risk categories for pelvic floor dysfunction. The gyms will be open properly soon and no doubt many will be wanting to get back into shape, but sadly unsuspecting individuals will end up participating in detrimental exercises not suited to their needs.

Please give the project a try and see what you think. Your pelvic floor will thank you!

As long as you can get down on the floor safely and back up these exercises are for you, there's no age limit.

Send me a private message if you want to participate and let me know whether you want a group session or a 1-1 on the zoom platform, (I will need to give you log in details) or messenger and the WhatsApp platform, but it only allows 6 people on video on WhatsApp, so choose which platform you'd like. Remember the project ends at the end of June so please take this opportunity as it's all free.

As ever good pelvic floor health to you🌹

08/04/2021

Stretches the second part.

I do hope you will try these.

Good pelvic floor health to you 🌹

08/04/2021

Well everyone, I hope the videos have been useful and I'm almost done with creating them. 🙏🏿 I just have the last few which I will upload now. The last of the core exercise section and the stretches, which I will put in the next post.

I have had to create them on my sons phone so they will not look exactly as I would have liked if I could have used my usual video editor on my laptop, but alas it is no more. But I'm grateful I could at least get them done.

I do hope they are acceptable to you and you will still be able to follow them in doing the exercises. I apologise for my orangey brown face 🙈(the filter I used was hard to control with few settings I could manipulate) and the transitions, that's the best one I could find.

The project is almost at an end on June 29th and I must say I would have loved more interest with regards to interaction, but it has been a time where much has had to be done online and this is not for everyone.

Remember you can ring me on the phone, use WhatsApp, zoom, email for any queries or to partake in doing the exercises on zoom with me instructing as a group or on 1-1 basis, whatever you are comfortable with.

As ever good pelvic floor health to you 🌹

29/03/2021

Hello everyone I do hope I've not bombarded you with too many videos 🙏🏽 we planned this in our application when we put our bid in for the grant, that as well as the ebook there would be videos of the exercises, so it must be delivered 🧐 thank you for your patience and I hope that you have been trying some or all of the exercises and have found them useful.

Again I've hit upon a problem with the second laptop I'm now using, which has broken down just like that, in mid video editing 😭 I'm just waiting for an internal battery to arrive then I should be back on my slightly better computer 🙂 I'm using my daughter's at present and if I mention it's 'Windows Vista Basic' you might understand my problems 🤦🏽‍♀️ the video editor just won't work on it so I'm using my son's phone (the children always have the best equipment!) to do some editing, sadly only the basics can be done but I'm determined that the show must go on 💪🏾 I will post the rest as soon as I can.

Thank you for your patience and as ever good pelvic floor health to you🌹

26/03/2021

The Hip Hike

I apologise for all the hand movements 🤦🏽‍♀️ it's easier when I'm actually in a class instructing 🙈 but you get the gist I hope!

The Hip hike exercise is to help activate the multifidus muscles which are part of your spinal muscles involved in core stability and often these muscles are underused so that other muscles do their job and this can result in lower back pain. Please give this one a try remember your core isn't just your front muscles they wrap around 360°

As ever good pelvic floor health to you 🌹

26/03/2021

The Clamshell with Progression

This is another exercise that can help with back pain and sciatica, it can ease lower back tension. It strengthens the gluteus medius, which is the mid part of your buttocks on the edge, again like the bent knee fall out, it works in stabilizing your pelvis.

Clamshell exercises can help to balance the muscular effort between your inner and outer thighs and your pelvic floor. They help to reduce pain by strengthening the core and lower back muscles, it can also help prevent injury. It's a pretty amazing exercise! When done correctly. It helps to reduce pain by strengthening the core and lower back muscles. If you add resistance around your legs, increase muscular strength, It can also sculpt your buttocks if you were interested!

As ever good pelvic floor health to you.

25/03/2021

Bent Knee Fall Out With Progression

This exercise strengthens your core by challenging your ability to maintain neutral spine, during leg movements to the side. It helps strengthen the transverse abdominis and pelvic floor and is important for rotary stability of your pelvis. That's why at the end of the video I'm trying to demonstrate that you shouldn't rock from side to side as you do the exercise1

Good pelvic floor health to you.

25/03/2021

Glute Bridge with Progression

Start the exercise with the pelvic tilt, from there go into the glute bridge.

The glute bridge is a lower body/ core exercise. It works lower body, glutes and hamstrings but as these muscles are indirectly part of the core it can be classed as a core exercise as well.

Challenge yourself with this variation by lifting one leg in the air as you do the glute bridge. A single leg, glute bridge adds more instability, making it harder to balance, a good workout for those glutes and hamstrings, hold the leg for few seconds then do on the other side.

24/03/2021

Pelvic Tilt with Arms and Progression

To clarify when I mention bracing slightly I just mean a slight brace about 25%, to arrive at that percentage brace the TVA 100% then let go gradually with your estimate of 25% each time until it feels only like a slight tension you must gauge this for yourself. Understand though that it is not a 100% brace, it's only slight about 25%

This exercise engages your six pack muscle and together with your other muscles they are all getting a workout. These are not intense exercises as you would find in a regular class but done consistently and correctly you will gain benefit and see changes without any detriment to your pelvic floor health.