When I embarked on my career as a physiotherapist I never envisaged becoming a pelvic floor physiotherapist in my future and did not consider it on a regular basis.

In 2011 I started to see a lot of patients with low back pain that simply were not getting better with the treatments I was using and had been successfully for a few years.

I spoke to a colleague of mine who gave me a copy of Diane Lee’s The Pelvic Girdle, suddenly I realized I was missing a key part of the human body – the pelvis!

Now I want to go back to all those clients and apologise! I missed something, and I could have done better.

The pelvis is incredible – Elvis knew how to move his and Beyoncé made booty popping famous all because of the pelvis

it is the cornerstone of your body. It sits in the middle, it connects the upper and lower body.

It protects the bladder, bowel and reproductive organs and makes up the lower back and the hip joints!

The bones are strong really strong, in fact strong enough to protect a growing baby

It has 45 muscles attaching to it … 45!!!

The pelvic floor itself holds the pelvis together. It’s a diamond shaped structure that had 5 primary functions

Continence – the ability to maintain bladder and bowel control
Contains our pelvic organs – bladder, bowel and uterus; these organs are kept internally by the pelvic floor
Sexual function – the ability to orgasm, get and maintain erections
Sump pump – it helps the blood flow to and from your legs
Movement of the lower body; back, hips, legs and the pelvis

The pelvic floor is also an integral part of the core muscles – a group of four.that provide strength and stability to the spine.

Are you starting to see how incredible this group of muscles the pelvic floor is?

Problems in the pelvic floor can lead to or be involved with incontinence, low back pain, hip pain, sexual dysfunction, endometriosis, irritable bowel syndrome… the list goes on. These conditions can be common but not normal but treatable with pelvic floor physiotherapist, prior to the need for medication and or surgery.

As a pelvic floor physiotherapist, I have specialised skills in the assessment and treatment of this muscle group.

Think you have a pelvic floor issue – please don’t wait, contact a physiotherapist and get seen.

What is the big deal with the pelvic floor??