I’m always talking about what you should do for pelvic health, so I thought I would flip things around a bit…
Here are the top 3 things you should STOP doing for long term pelvic health:
1.Kegels.
Unless you have been specifically “prescribed” kegels by a pelvic floor therapist, this exercise is better avoided. If you love kegels and just don’t want to stop them altogether, I encourage you to connect with a pelvic floor therapist to find out if you are doing them correctly and in a way that is best suited for your pelvic floor. The kegels you should be doing, could be VERY different than the kegels you learned on YouTube. A pelvic floor therapist is the best professional to help you determine the “resting” state of your pelvic floor. Based on that, kegels can be more accurately recommended. I am often recommending women focus only on reverse kegels or the relaxation aspect of the kegel exercise. 100% of the time this is not what the client had been doing before we worked together.
2. Fast paced, high intensity core workouts.
If you have spent an extensive amount of time retraining your core under the supervision of a core restoring program or professional (like myself) and just crave a heavy core workout, fine… go ahead. But for most of us mere mortal mothers, high intensity core workouts are probably doing more harm than good. Most postpartum (3 month, 3 years or 3 decades) women have not intensively rehabilitated their core and don’t understand how to manage pressure within their abdomen. During high intensity ab workouts you are probably compensating (using the wrong muscles to achieve a movement) in ways that over time is potentially harmful to your pelvic floor health. This is literally one of my favorite things to work on with my clients, so hit me up if you are interested!
3. Hovering.
When you hover over a toilet to pee, your pelvic floor muscles do not completely relax like they are supposed to. So when you hover, it’s kind of like trying to sleep while standing. It’s just not the way things are supposed to work. Worried about hygiene and sanitation? Research has shown the sink handles in bathrooms have significantly more disease carrying microbes on them than the toilet seats. Unless overtly dirty, toilet seats are actually one of the cleaner surfaces in public bathrooms. Crazy but true! So next time you are tempted to hover, take the necessary steps to sit, relax, and allow your body to release urine in its preferred position.
In Health,
Hilary
PS… If you are interested in learning more about any of these topics I love receiving your message and read every single one! Email me at hilary@hv-holistichealth.com
