In this exercise sequence we show you pelvic floor exercises using the Franklin Method Balls. These exercises are amazing for releasing tension in the pelvic floor muscles and creating a balance in the muscles and good posture in sitting. Make sure you pay attention to the sensations you feel after you do the exercises.
Episode 5 Timeline
Introduction
3:00 mins. Often symptoms like incontinence are attributed solely to childbirth, but in a patient’s experience there were other contributing factors such as past sports injuries. Addressing these issues alleviated her symptoms in just 3 treatment sessions.
5:00 mins. How do we know what our pelvic floor muscles are doing? If we can’t see the muscles of the pelvic floor it’s difficult to have a good image of what it looks like in the body. Since we can’t see these muscles, how do we know what they’re doing?
5:10 mins. Gaining a good connection of your pelvic bowl. Our goal for you today is to have a good connection to the pelvic bowl in your mind, achieve good function through practicing good breathing habits. We want you to walk away knowing a lot about the pelvis, and how to connect with your pelvis throughout your day.
7:09 mins. Walking to achieve good pelvic floor function. Achieving good pelvic floor function through walking with symmetrically opposing mirroring movements. It’s important to get good healthy function in movements we do most of the time, such as walking, moving, bending…
8:30 mins As you lie on the blue Franklin Fascial Ball, your buttocks make contact with the surface, allowing for gentle movement and pressure. Your sacrum, the triangular bone at the base of your spine, responds by subtle shifting and rotating on the ball, facilitating mobility and releasing tension in the pelvic area. Visualize your sacrum polishing your rectum, which in turn massages and soothes your uterus and your uterus gently stimulates and relaxes your bladder. This cascading effect creates a sense of harmony and balance within the pelvic organs.
11:13 mins Check in around your pelvis. What do you sense and feel? Does your pelvic floor feel relaxed. Do you feel warmth. Do you feel sensations around the belly or peritoneum? Does one side feel softer around the sit bones? Do you have an image pelvic bones or your pelvic floor muscles?
16:00 mins What are the functions of the pelvic floor? Why do we have a pelvic floor? We can let things in and let things out. We consider the pelvic floor muscles support our bladder, uterus, rectum. Sneezing causes a sense of pressure forward and downward. Pressure on the bladder or rectum can cause a person to leak or pass gas due to the downward pressure. The pelvic floor muscles need to be strong eccentrically allowing them to lengthen as it gently receives and absorbs the force downward. When you jump do you land with straight knees or bend your
knees? Ideally, you want to bend your knees when you’re landing in a jump. Bending your knees in a jump allows tissues to lengthen to better absorb the forces.
18:30 mins. The pelvic floor can serve as protection whether physical or emotion. Protection to not let something in. Some people may hold tension or stress in their pelvic floor muscle. This tension can manifest as pelvic pain, discomfort or dysfunction.
19:30 mins. Finding your boney landmarks. Touch your own pelvis as we demonstrate with the model. Notice the pubic bone in the front, sit bones below, ASIS often thought of as the hip bones and your tailbone. The pelvic inner ring is pictured as a ring on it’s side, not facing upwards.
21:30 mins. Finding your mid point on your sit bones. Sit on a firmer surface to feel your sit bones. Rock back and forth on your sit bones, slumping in your seat in a posterior pelvic tilt and anterior pelvic tilt as you roll forward. Think of the pelvis as a bucket filled with water to give you a sense of sit bones. As you roll back imagine spilling the water on yourself. You’ll also notice the tailbone as your roll back. As you roll forward imagine spilling the water out in front of you. Find your own center or mid point for emptying.
24:30 mins The muscles of the pelvic floor
26:50 mins There are 14 supporting pelvic floor muscles. You don’t need to remember names but simplify it by noticing shapes and patterns. The front part of the pelvic floor that relates to the bladder is in between the sit bones and the pubic bone is more triangular in shape. The back part of the pelvic floor that relates more to the rectum and the levator ani, is a curved shape. Looking into the pelvic bowl we can see the levator ani and it’s attachment to the fascia of the obturator internus muscle.
30:56 mins. What images come to your mind when you’re thinking about breathing and the pelvic floor? Imagine breathing into the pelvic bowl as the sit bones float apart. Teeter totter between the sit bones and the upper pelvis. The pelvis alternates from wide on top to narrow on bottom and narrow on top and wide on bottom depending on our activity and breath. When the lower pelvis widens we get the support from the upper part of the pelvis and it strengthens the abdominals. If we hold our abdominals tight we don’t get the teeter totter. Imagine the pelvic
floor as a flower blossoming with soft curved peddles.
36:05 mins What are qualities of the pelvic floor? Supportive, responsive to various activities like sneezing, tone to hold baby in, adaptable, free to move pelvis in dancing. We want our pelvic floor to be able to move freely, with a balance between strength and range of motion.
42:05 mins. Imagine with your mind only, your ilium are the ends of a book and your sacrum is the binder. Now, imaging closing the book. Are your transversus abdominal muscles (these muscles are co-contracting with the pelvic floor muscles) contracting at the same time. If not, initiate contracting from the weaker side first to the stronger side.
46:00 mins. What happens to the pelvic floor when we’re breathing in relation to the diaphragm? The curved diaphragm dome moves down when we breath in. Our abdominal and pelvic organs are below our diaphragm. The organs will push forward and downward. The pelvic floor lengthens and accommodates for the movement. The pelvic floor lengthening is not a letting go but an eccentric contraction to absorb the forces from the pressure above. Therefore, the pelvic
floor muscles are in sync with the diaphragm. During exhalation, the reverse occurs. Use hands to model the diaphragm and pelvic floor as you inhale the dome and pelvic floor moves downward and as we exhale movements upward. Notice if your pelvic floor is responsive to activities.
51.00 mins PNF (Proprioceptive Neuromuscular Facilitation) a diagonal movement to increase flexibility in the pelvic floor. Reach your feet on one side and as you bring your body up stretch/reach upwards to the opposite side. Imagine a responsive pelvic floor during your movement. Repeat this activity 3-5 times. Repeat on the other side.
53:30 mins. What happens to the front part of the pelvic floor? The front is triangular in shape where we have the urogenital diaphragm. When we breath in the pelvic floor softens as the fan widens and as we exhale the pelvic floor lifts back up and the fan narrows. Use your hands to model the pelvic floor. Imagine you’re holding a fan that images your sit bones where your fingers are located. Breath in and imagine the pelvic floor widening and softening like a soft cloth or pliable clay. Breath out as you imagine the pelvic floor returning to it’s normal supportive position as the fan narrows. What do you feel in your bladder following this exercise.
58:00 mins. What happens to the back part of the pelvic floor? We’re looking at the curved triangle between our sit bones and tail bone. Imagine a fan from the tail bone opening towards the sit bones. Hold the handle of the fan towards you and the ends of the fan are radiating outwards and widens during inhalation and narrows during exhalation. Do you feel the support from your tailbone and forward, back to front?
1:03:00 mins. Bring the breathing into movement with your hips and knees. When bending our knees the fan widens to support us and when we stretch our knees the fan narrows. Follow the bony landmarks as you lengthen and shorten muscles as the fans move. No need to grip and feel tension. Notice and sense your pelvis. Did you feel any changes?
1:05:52 mins Using your orange balls or towels to rock back and forth on. How does your pelvic floor feel sitting on a firm surface. Next, place your balls/object under your sit bones in a seated position. Roll forward and back as you’re sitting on the balls. You’re doing a posterior and anterior pelvic tilt. Think about the sit bones widening as you roll forward and narrowing as you roll back. Next roll side to side on your sit bones like a pendulum or place a downward pressure
on your sit bones causing the opposite side to lift. Take the balls away. What does your pelvic floor feel like on the surface you’re sitting on. Do you feel space in your pelvic floor? Notice your perineal body located between the vagina and rectum. Do you feel that tissue relax into the chair? This is a great exercise to release any scarring from childbirth. Allow the healing process after childbirth before doing this exercise.
1:12:12 What emotions do you feel after doing these exercise movement? Calm and gratitude for your body and pelvic floor.