Symptoms of pelvic pubis & floor dysfunction
Demystifying this taboo!

Pelvic Floor Dysfunction

An umbrella term to bring together issues related to the area of your body from your pubic bone to the tail-bone at the back and from side-to-side

What is pelvic floor dysfunction?

When there is too much pressure, tension, and tightness in the pelvic floor, it creates a “pulling action” downward. This can lead to pelvic organ prolapse, incontinence and a range of other symptoms usually categorized under the umbrella term “pelvic floor dysfunction”.

In short, pelvic floor dysfunction (PFD) refers to a broad number of symptoms and conditions relating to the inability of the pelvic floor muscles to conduct their necessary functions.

Common symptoms of pelvic floor dysfunction

  • Leaking urine when coughing, sneezing, laughing, or exercising, Feeling sudden, uncontrollable urges to urinate, frequent urination, waking up many times at night to urinate and urinating during sleep.

  • This is a condition in which the uterus lining tissue begins growing outside the uterus. It can create pelvic tenderness that may be described as hip pain by patients. In this condition, you will feel pain from the spine and back around the hip and buttocks too. You may suffer from sciatica as well that can cause pain in the hip or the back. Endometriosis can be in other parts of the body too.

  • Muscles in the pelvic floor become too tense and are unable to relax.

  • A sensation of vaginal looseness.

  • A strong urge to urinate that doesn’t go away, burning feeling when urinating, urinating often, and passing small amounts of urine, urine that looks cloudy, urine that appears red, bright pink or cola-colored — signs of blood in the urine, strong-smelling urine and pelvic pain.

  • You experience intense urges to pass urine. There are often only a few seconds between the need to urinate and the release of urine.

  • The vaginal wall towards the small intestine gets pulled into the vagina.

  • Long-term pelvic pain that originates from damage or irritation of the pudendal nerve – a main nerve in the pelvis. Shooting, aching, burning or stabbing, tingling, prickling or numbing, hurting worse in the evening and feeling better in morning.

  • The top of your vagina (known as the “vaginal vault”) droops down into your vaginal canal. This usually occurs in people who have had a hysterectomy (removal of your uterus).

  • Tearing of the levator ani muscle on the pubic bone.

  • Leaking urine during day-to-day activities, feeling a sudden and strong urge to urinate, wetting the bed while sleeping and/or leaking urine without any urge and failing to make it to the toilet in time.

  • Intramural fibroids grow within the muscular uterine wall. Submucosal fibroids bulge into the uterine cavity. Subserosal fibroids project to the outside of the uterus. Symptoms include heavy menstrual bleeding, menstrual periods lasting more than a week, pelvic pressure or pain, frequent urination, difficulty emptying the bladder, constipation and backache or leg pains.

  • The bladder cannot completely empty when you pass urine or when your bladder cannot store any urine at all, which causes you to pass urine constantly or have frequent leaking.

  • Tenderness paired with a dull, achy pain in the tailbone area, at the very bottom of the spine, between the buttocks.

  • You experience intense urges to pass urine, few seconds between the need to urinate and the release of urine, and unintentional loss of urine prompted by physical movement or activity that puts pressure on your bladder, such as coughing, sneezing, laughing or exercising.

  • Waking up during the night to urinate.

  • Burning pain or aching pain or throbbing pain during intercourse and lasting hours after intercourse.

  • Pain only at sexual entry, pain with every penetration, deep pain during thrusting and may last hours after intercourse.

  • Tightness in your pelvic floor, also called pelvic tension. May create pain and discomfort.

  • A sudden need to go to the toilet but are unable to reach a toilet in time.

  • Tenderness, soreness, aching, discomfort, sharp or piercing pain at any given moment in your pelvic floor or pelvis.

  • Unintentional loss of urine prompted by physical movement or activity that puts pressure on your bladder, such as coughing, sneezing, laughing or exercising.

  • The cervix and uterus is being pulled down in the vaginal canal toward the vaginal opening.

  • Dry, itchy skin in the vaginal area as well as pain and discomfort.

  • Vaginal wall towards the rectum gets pulled into the vagina.

  • Most commonly occurs when waste or stool moves too slowly through the digestive tract or cannot be eliminated effectively from the rectum, which may cause the stool to become hard and dry.

  • The vaginal wall towards the bladder bulges into the vaginal canal.

  • Hearing and feeling air escape from your vagina, similar to hearing a fart from your rectum.

  • A change in the color or smell of the discharge, and irritation, itchiness, or burning in or around your vagina.

  • Low muscle tone, and your pelvic floor muscles do not have the strength to properly position and stabilize your pelvis to support good bladder/bowel function.

  • Caused by repeated friction (through skin-to-skin or skin-to-material contact) and moisture, especially during warm weather. This may be also caused by physical activities, tight clothes, obesity, irritant, breastfeeding, and prolapse.

  • This can feel like a dragging sensation, like a tampon is stuck inside, it will in all likelihood feel heavier as the day goes on. sometimes it can feel sore like something is pulling inside.

  • Prolapse is when the organs in the pelvic bowl are being pulled down – for cystocele and uterine prolapse, rectocele and urethrocele the organs are moving towards the entrance of the vagina. For rectal prolapse it is the the rectum prolapsing out of the anus.

  • This can be because of a hypertonic pelvic floor. It can be because of sexual trauma. It can be because of STD’s as well (so get checked by your doctor just in case). It can also be due to the drying of the vagina during perimenopause and menopause and can also be during breastfeeding.

  • Pain in the pelvic floor can come from so many different issues. It can be due to laxity in the ligaments due to relaxing during pregnancy and post pregnancy. It can be because you have hyper mobility in the ligaments in your body and as we age or due to pregnancy the area around the pubic symphysis or coccyx, sacral area can become stretched or lengthened and this can cause movement that can create pain.

  • Is for the most part a symptom of the change in estrogen levels as we pass through peri menopause to menopause.

  • Vaginal gas (vaginal flatulence or queefing) is when you pass gas from your vagina. The noise you hear is trapped air coming out of your vagina. It’s usually harmless and caused by sex, exercise or weak pelvic floor muscles.

  • Symptoms of piles include bright red blood after you poo, an itchy anus, and slimy mucus coming from your bottom.

    Piles usually get better on their own. You can ease discomfort by avoiding constipation. You may need hospital treatment if your piles are severe.

    It’s not clear what causes piles. You’re more likely to get them if you’re regularly constipated, pregnant or often push too hard when pooing.

  • Leaking urine during everyday activities, such as lifting, bending, coughing, or exercising, being unable to hold in urine after feeling a sudden, strong urge to urinate, leaking urine without any warning or urge, being unable to reach a toilet in time, wetting your bed during sleep and leaking during sexual activity.

  • Not wanting to have sex or just don’t have the urge anymore.

  • Pain, dragging sensation, wideness, reduced sensation, not functioning optimally.

  • This can feel like a dragging sensation, like a tampon is stuck inside, it will in all This can feel like a dragging sensation, like a tampon is stuck inside, it will in all likelihood feel heavier as the day goes on. sometimes it can feel sore like something is pulling inside. feel heavier as the day goes on. sometimes it can feel sore like something is pulling inside.

What causes symptoms of pelvic dysfunction?

Scar Tissue adhesion in your pelvic fascia. 

Let’s unpack that.

Scar Tissue is a thick tissue that replaces normal tissue that has been damaged.  These scar tissues create dead zones as they do not have natural tissue characteristics such as sweat glands or nerve endings. 

Scar Tissue can occur due to trauma, injury, surgery or events such as childbirth, hormonal changes due to menopause or similar. 

Adhesions happen when scar tissue connects adjacent tissues or organs potentially causing pain or organ dysfunction.  

So scar tissue adhesions create functional problems as they create more weight in your pelvic floor, specifically the fascia. 

Fascia is the largest organ in your body that you have never heard of. It runs from head to toe and is a network of connective tissue that holds all your organs, muscles and ligaments together. 

The fascia makes it possible for us to do activities like dancing, swimming, bending and more. If we were just made of bones and muscles, they would be hitting against each other when we did such activities, making it very painful. Thank you fascia. 

Biotensegrity 1

Your pelvic fascia has this job within your pelvis and pelvic floor.

So this extra weight creates a pull in your pelvic floor leading to symptoms of dysfunction. 

While research is still in its infancy, early results show a high degree of  correlation between women with pelvic floor dysfunction and scar tissue adhesion.

The myth about the weak pelvic floor

Studies estimate that 25-56% of all women with pelvic floor dysfunction have a hypertonic pelvic floor which is a significant number. 

A hypertonic pelvic floor is an overly tense pelvic floor that cannot relax or contract.

Scar tissue can contribute to tension and trigger points in the pelvic floor leading to a hypertonic pelvic floor. 

Fascia of a Woman 1

However, a large contributor to hypertonic pelvic floor are environmental factors such as chronic stress, poor posture, muscle imbalances and even poor breathing patterns. 

These factors play a key role in development of pelvic symptoms over the years with a major event like childbirth, menopause or hormonal changes triggering the worsening of the condition drastically. 

An important point to note is that a hypertonic pelvic floor is a weak pelvic floor yet does not require strengthening. On the contrary, it requires relaxation. 

Imagine having flexed biceps that cannot contract or relax. Now by adding more Kegels or strength exercises, you are worsening the problem.

So strengthening your pelvic floor alone will not get the job done. For many, it might make symptoms worse.  

Why are Kegels not working for you?

Kegels are exercises designed to strengthen your pelvic floor — the group of muscles and tissues at the base of your pelvis.

The exercises themselves involve repeatedly contracting and relaxing your pelvic muscles, the same ones used to stop urine flow.

Kegels are actually not useful if you have a Hyper-tonic pelvic floor. In certain cases it can worsen the symptoms of pelvic floor dysfunction.

Kegels can fatigue our pelvic floor muscles and cause greater weakness or even muscle spasms. This is why doing Kegels actually promotes urinary incontinence in 25% of cases, instead of reversing it.

When Kegels were invented, they might not have been intended to be a one-size-fits-all approach. But here we are 70+ years later and they’re still the primary, and in some cases, the only recommendation for women with pelvic floor dysfunctions.

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How about pessaries?

A vaginal pessary is a device which is inserted into the vaginal to hold a prolapsed womb and/or vaginal walls in place. Pessaries can be made of silicon or vinyl.

A pessary is placed by a doctor or a specialist nurse in the clinic.

A pessary while useful does not help you lead a symptom-free life. First, it might lead to issues such as unpleasant smelling vaginal discharge or difficulty in passing urine. Not to mention, you will have to refit every few months (ideally six months at a time) and are psychologically dependent on the device to help you feel whole

Pessary Pelvic floor

How about prolapse surgeries?

There are different surgical treatments for pelvic floor dysfunction – the common four being surgical repair, vaginal mesh surgery, hysterectomy and closing the vagina

In one study, researchers noted a high failure rate of up to 61.5%. They also noted that some prolapse surgeries have been commonly performed despite insufficient efficacy data.

In addition, some patients believed their prolapse surgery “worked” because it gave them relief of certain symptoms — despite the high failure rates noted by their surgeons.

In his editorial, Mickey M. Karram, MD (an internationally-renowned urogynecologist and pelvic surgeon) criticized the lack of standardized instruments to assess prolapse accurately and little data on why prolapse surgeries fail. In his words:

“While the literature is replete with new techniques and modifications that show excellent outcomes, in reality, this is not the case.” 

What’s the primary reason for this lack of information on failed prolapse surgeries? In short, surgeons are hesitant to publish bad outcomes about their operations.

We have written a whole post about pros and cons of surgeries here

I’m 65+ & multi-morbid.

What should I do?

We understand that you might feel that you are at the end of the road and you will have to live with these harrowing symptoms for the rest of your life.

We are here to tell you that this is not what we see. In our community, the average age of women that reverse symptoms of pelvic floor dysfunction is 63 and the median age is even higher.

We also see women with chronic health issues slowly but surely getting their zest back and experience progress.

Even if you have gone through an invasive procedure, we believe you can get your health back through natural exercises, mental techniques and emotional methods.

We offer all this in our programs. Scroll below to read more.

You can reverse symptoms of pelvic dysfunction naturally!

10 minutes/day is all you need to get started from home

Filippa doing Hypopressive exercise

Hypopressives Training Course

With the Hypopressives breath-hold, get back to doing things you love with no limitations.

  • 10 mins/day videos to follow-along
  • 1:1 support from a hypopressives instructor to ensure you are doing the technique right
  • Live weekly classes that are affordable and catered to different time zones
Perfect for those that have limited time and budget to get started with!
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The Complete Pelvic Dysfunction Program

12-weeks completely tailor-made program with multiple natural therapies

  • 10-20 mins/day videos to follow-along
  • +15 practitioners from around the world
  • Covers physical exercises, lifestyle & mind over medicine techniques
  • 1:1 coaching throughout the period.
    She is there every step of the way, including supporting you emotionally!
  • Live weekly classes that are affordable and catered to different time zones

Perfect for women looking for a comprehensive program to start healing fully! Requires between 15-30 minutes/day.

Why our programs work?

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Knowledgeable innovative committed leaders in prolapse recovery/ healing. Slow enough you don’t get discouraged and the focus is recovery not a face paced exercise class. Thank you all I’ll let you know when I’m a miracle like many of you

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Karen
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Really enjoying my daily practice, it starts my day beautifully and calmly, ready for anything! It's still early days for me but I feel stronger in my core and better in myself. Tutors are so warm dedicated and professional.

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Both Abby and Filippa are very professional and nice instructors. The Hypopressives exercises takes a while to learn but after 4 weeks I'm getting better and also stronger in my core. I'm happy to have found Moonrise!

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Sooooo much brilliant information on everything you need to know about the menopause and women’s health in general. Tips on diet, the right exercises and mental health are excellent. The check ins with Filippa are lovely and nurturing too. It’s a really well run program and I can’t praise it enough.

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Here are answers to questions you might have

Yes Hypopressives can help with these symptoms and other connected conditions affecting our core, back & pelvic health.

Hypopressive exercises combines various positions of the arm and feet along with the apnea or breath hold to activate your myofascial slings.

Myofascial slings are complex connections of muscle, fascia, and ligament, which help support the inner, stabilising muscles (deep supportive core) of the trunk and significantly contribute to movement and stability of the lumbar spine and pelvis. Every single Hypopressive helps you rejuvernate and reconnect your pelvic floor and core naturally.

Hypopressives require no equipment and are suitable for women of all ages and conditions. With tons of modifications available, you are never left behind with Hypopressives.

Read about all the symptoms Hypopressives helps with here

 

As you can imagine, the answer is very individual.

Some women notice a change after 3-6 months. Some after 3-6 weeks. We know you are eager to reach better health, yet we see the best results in women not expecting to see results, but who keep doing the work no matter what.

If you have a limited budget & time, we recommend beginning with our Hypopressives Course. You only need 10 minutes/day and for a 1-time payment of 119 USD, you get lifetime access to all content, live classes & 1-1 support to ensure you are doing the technique right.

 Buy Hypopressives Course

If you need more 1-1 support, access multiple therapies and can spend more resources, we recommend our full signature Pelvic Floor Dysfunction program with Filippa. In this 12-week program, you get the following:

  • You get Filippa working 1-1 with you.
  • You have access to multiple therapies (Hypopressives are included)
  • You would start with 10 minutes/day and slowly get up to 30-45 minutes/day of self-healthcare work.
  • The 12-weeks gives you the opportunity to dive head first to reclaiming your health
  • You can also pause the program for up to 8 weeks since life happens and this should not feel stressful.

We tend to see better outcomes as you add more therapies to your toolbox to reverse symptoms.

Buy Pelvic Dysfunction Program with Filippa

Still unsure? Take this quiz to get your recommendation:

Help me choose

Yes! Our healing programs are built on 3 foundational pillars of lifestyle changes, body-based practices & mind over medicine that work for all age groups. Our latest cohort’s average age was 63.

In short, women of all ages see results when following our guidance and the methods in our programs.

A hypertonic pelvic floor is an overactive, highly tensed pelvic floor. Doing more Kegels here would be detrimental since it creates more tension.

While relaxation is the way to go, you need to aim for a reflexive pelvic floor i.e. a pelvic floor that supports you in your everyday movements and in your everyday life.

Our program helps you get there by decompressing pelvic tension and helping you relax the pelvic area and the rest of your body by activating the parasympathetic nervous system.

Yes, Hypopressives can work even if you have been operated for pelvic dysfunction/prolapse. If you have recently been operated, we recommend getting a certificate to get started working out again from your doctor. Until then, we recommend only doing the lateral breath & alignment, and not the apnea.

Yes, Hypopressives can indeed help with overactive bladder & incontinence. We see women experiencing these results with consistent practice 10 minutes/day for 3-6 months.

If you are joining us since you are not seeing results from Kegels, we would recommend you to avoid Kegels for the time you try our program/Hypopressives. Hypopressives & our other programs activate the slower muscle fibers, fascia and nerve threads that we don’t activate when we do a Kegel. We also think it is a cleaner approach to understand if Hypopressives/our program is working for you.

Yes. Constant Hypopressives can help you get a better recovery after your pregnancy.  However you are recommended not to do the apnea breath if you are pregnant. You are welcome to do lateral breath & alignment which really constitute the 80% of the technique and benefits.

Yes with the right set of personalized exercises, Diastasis can indeed be reversed years later.

The key to getting this right is to ensure the following:

  1. You have measured your separation right (we teach this in our program)
  2. You listen to your body and follow the exercises safely
  3. You communicate with us if something doesn’t feel right
  4. You are consistent in your practice (90-180 days, 10 mins/day)
  5. You give your body the right support mentally and emotionally.

You use a set of body-based practices created specifically for women with Diastasis Recti (DR) that are both safe and proven to work. They work because they address the root cause of this condition – which is the overstraining or damaging of the linea alba (connective tissue) located in your abdomen. Plus, when you add in some mind-based & lifestyle practices to these physical DR exercises, you create an environment where you can accelerate your healing.

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Start getting better today

Filippa doing Hypopressive exercise

Hypopressives Training Course

With the Hypopressives breath-hold, get back to doing things you love with no limitations.

  • 10 mins/day videos to follow-along
  • 1:1 support from a hypopressives instructor to ensure you are doing the technique right
  • Live weekly classes that are affordable and catered to different time zones
Perfect for those that have limited time and budget to get started with!
SmXmgdQw

The Complete Pelvic Dysfunction Program

12-weeks completely tailor-made program with multiple natural therapies

  • 10-20 mins/day videos to follow-along
  • +15 practitioners from around the world
  • Covers physical exercises, lifestyle & mind over medicine techniques
  • 1:1 coaching throughout the period.
    She is there every step of the way, including supporting you emotionally!
  • Weekly Live classes

Perfect for women looking for a comprehensive program to start healing fully! Requires between 15-30 minutes/day.

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