The Wellness Conversation: Pelvic Floor - The Muscles No One Talks About (But Everyone Needs)

Pelvic floor health affects almost all women—and sometimes men—at some point throughout their life, yet it is rarely talked about. While many symptoms are overlooked or seen as normal, there are many treatment options to help strengthen your pelvic floor and decrease any dysfunction. On this episode of The Wellness Conversation, Nicole Book, MD, urogynecologist at OhioHealth, takes listeners through the common symptoms, stigmas and treatment options for pelvic health.

The pelvic floor is a network of muscles, connective tissue, nerves and blood vessels that support organs in your pelvis such as your bladder, uterus and colon. According to Dr. Book, pelvic floor dysfunction is very common and urinary incontinence, more commonly known as bladder leakage, affects 50 percent of women at some point in their life.

“It starts before childbearing, but we certainly see a big increase after women may have had babies and then another very large increase after menopause,” said Dr. Book. “We think that somewhere around 75 percent of women over the age of 60 may be experiencing urinary incontinence” [03:44-04:00].

In the past, a lot of pelvic floor issues were attributed to childbirth, but Dr. Book emphasized, “women who have not had children actually very often do have pelvic floor dysfunction” [08:10-08:15].

These myths and stigmas have led to many women to think pelvic floor symptoms are normal and ultimately avoid treatment, but there are a variety of options and actionable steps that women can take to reduce pelvic floor pain.

“The number one thing to modify in day-to-day life is to avoid constipation. As I mentioned earlier, there lots of parts of our life that put pressure on the pelvic floor, but if you’re able to modify your diet and fluid intake to keep your stool soft and avoid straining” [19:20-19:45].

While there are steps that you can take at home to decrease pelvic floor dysfunction, it’s always important to check in with your provider to make sure there aren’t any underlying issues.

“I would encourage women if they’re having symptoms of urinary leakage, pelvic pressure heaviness or fecal incontinence to talk to your doctor because there are lots of things that we can do,” Dr. Book said. “If you’re having issues, talk to your doctor. Consider working with a pelvic floor physical therapist and reach out if you need us” [20:55-21:23].

Listen to the full episode to learn more about pelvic floor health and how you can protect your body.