Leon Chaitow describes his experience as a therapist regarding pelvic floor connected issues.
And this is at odds with commercials which claim kegel exercises to be exclusively beneficial for the pelvic floor. Read on…
How To Reduce Pelvic Floor Tension
The Problem ?
Let’s start with a clinical trend I have become aware of, but have been unable to explain until recently. Over the past five to ten years, more and more of my younger, mainly but not exclusively, female patients have reported symptoms ranging from variable to acute pelvic pain, to stress incontinence, and interstitial (i.e., nonbacterial) cystitis.
Many of these patients had seen appropriate experts in genitourinary medicine and/or physical medicine, and most had been prescribed what can best be described as “toning” (Kegel-type) exercises for presumed laxity in their pelvic floor muscles, along with various forms of medication.
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Structural evaluation often revealed very well-toned musculature. Many had a history involving athletics, gymnastics or dance, and it also was common to have a report of emphasis on Pilates toning exercises, not uncommonly with insufficient emphasis on flexibility. Frequently, there was extreme shortness of some of the muscles attaching to the pelvis, particularly the adductors, hip flexors and the (“core stability”) abdominal muscles.
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The evidence is that the problems in many of these unfortunate patients was not reduced tone, but increased and excessive tone.
In recent years medical and manual therapy practitioners have also rediscovered something demonstrated many years ago (Slocumb 1984) – that trigger points can cause all of these symptoms, and that the trigger points and the symptoms frequently can be removed manually – as reported later in this post.
The Tennis Ball Trick
A self-help option was offered to me by a therapist (ex-dancer) at a recent workshop. She reported she had suffered many of the symptoms outlined above, and had been instructed in Kegel exercises for her incontinence. She noted that these exercises had aggravated rather than helped her. A yoga therapist had then advised her to purchase a tennis ball and sit on it with the ball (placed on a firm surface such as a carpeted floor) strategically placed under the perineum; and to allow the pressure onto the ball to deeply relax the pelvic floor muscles for five to 10 minutes daily. She reported that this procedure was somewhat uncomfortable at first, but that the effects were dramatic in terms of her symptoms. I have since recommended this to several patients for home use and all have reported benefit.
The full article is here
More on trigger points:
Trigger Points Deactivation/Release – Everything You Need To Know
