Facts About Pelvic Floor Muscles

By peace | October 2, 2006

The pelvic floor is composed of a group of muscles, which span the inferior, or underlying surface of the bony pelvis. As a group, these muscles originate at the pubis, which is located anteriorly, at the frontal portion of the pelvis, just above the genitals. From the pubis, the pelvic floor muscles extend back to the coccyx, commonly referred to as the “tailbone.” As a thick sheath, these muscles form the floor of the pelvis, hence the name, “pelvic floor” muscles. This muscular floor is pierced by the urethra (the structure which empties urine from the bladder), the anal canal and the vagina, and gives off fibers that connect it to these organ structures.

The pelvic floor muscles perform four major functions which include: 1) support of the organ systems within the pelvis and lower abdomen; 2) closure of the urethra and anal canal to maintain continence; 3) signaling to the bladder, rectum and colon when voiding or defecation is desired; and 4) opening of the urethra and anal canal by total relaxation to allow for complete and effortless defecation and urination. If any of the above functions are disturbed, normal bowel and bladder control will be disrupted.

The pelvic floor muscles are normally under voluntary control, much like the muscles in the hand. That is, we are able to contract or relax them at will. This voluntary control feature is in contrast to the smooth muscle of the body, which compose the bladder, colon and rectum. The smooth muscle of these organs functions automatically without direct voluntary control. When we want to stop the flow of urine or prevent fecal loss, for example, we contract the pelvic floor muscles, which lifts the pelvic floor about a half-inch and closes off the bladder and rectal opening.

Often, seemingly simple body functions can be quite complex. One example of this is urination, which is controlled only if a series of physical and behavioral dominoes fall into place each time a person needs to urinate. The bladder has muscles that let it to expand to hold urine arriving from the kidneys. When the bladder is full, nerves signal the need to urinate. If there is no appropriate place to do so, the brain overrides this signal. The brain keeps closed the muscular valve, or sphincter around the urethra, which is the tube that carries urine away from the bladder to the outside of the body. Muscles within the bladder that help squeeze it must stay relaxed, too, to prevent urination. When conditions are right, these muscles tighten, the valve relaxes and urine starts to flow. Damage to the pelvic floor muscles that help support the uterus, bladder, urethra and rectum can allow those body parts to sag. Pelvic muscles are most often damaged or weakened by childbirth and aging. As the problem worsens, incontinence can occur. Pelvic exams can determine if there is:

• a cystocele, which is a weakened muscle between vagina and bladder

• a rectocele, or a weakened muscle between vagina and rectum

• a prolasped uterus

• urinary stress incontinence, which is the loss of urine when a person sneezes, coughs, or laughs

How to contract the pelvic floor muscles
The first thing to do is to correctly identify the muscles that need to be exercised.

Sit or lie down comfortably with the muscles of your thighs, buttocks and abdomen relaxed
Tighten the ring of muscle around the back passage as if you are trying to control diarrhoea or wind. Relax it. Practice this movement several times until you are sure you are exercising the correct muscle. Try not to squeeze your buttocks.
When you are passing urine, try to stop the flow mid-stream, then restart it. Only do this to learn which muscles are the correct ones to use and then do it no more than once a week to cheek your progress, as this may interfere with normal bladder emptying.

If you are unable to feel a definite squeeze and lift action of your pelvic floor muscles or are unable to even slow the stream of urine as described in point 3, you should seek professional help to get your pelvic floor muscles working correctly. Even women with very weak pelvic floor muscles can be taught these exercises by a physiotherapist or continence advisor with expertise in this area.

Pelvic Floor And Sex
Do women with stronger pelvic floor muscles experience better sex? Do they feel more pleasure during sexual activity and have more orgasms? The evidence suggests they do!

The pelvic floor is a large hammock of muscles stretching from side to side across the floor of the pelvis in both women and men. It is attached to the pubic bone in front, and to the tail end of the spine behind. The openings from the bladder, the bowels and, for women, the vagina, all pass through the pelvic floor.

The correct anatomical name for these muscles are the pubococcygeus muscles, but nowadays they are more commonly called the pc muscle or muscles, or even more commonly, the pelvic floor muscles.

It is more actually more accurate to talk of these muscles in the plural, as there are a number of muscle groups that together make up this pelvic floor sling.

Many women are aware that they should exercise these pelvic floor muscles but very few do it regularly and successfully. Most women who have had children will have been advised on the importance of pelvic floor exercise to restore muscle tone after childbirth, and muscle strengthening was identified as an appropriate treatment for stress urinary incontinence back in the 1950s.

It was during the development of an exercise program for urinary incontinence that an interesting side effect was observed by Dr Arnold Kegel, the originator of these exercises. He claimed that women doing his exercises were finding it easier to reach more frequent and more intense orgasms.

To understand why, consider what happens in your body when you experience an orgasm:

Your heart pumps faster and your breathing gets heavier to fuel those tensing muscles.
Hormones are pumped round your brain and body, telling you this is fun.
Blood is pumped to your genitals to create the tension that will ultimately trigger a pudendal reflex (muscular spasm of the genitals).
That reflex will result in your pelvic-floor muscles contracting between five and 15 times at 0.8-second intervals. This is an orgasm as we know it.

So when you consider that the essential experience of orgasm is focused on the pelvic floor muscles, it isn’t surprising that exercising and strengthening those muscles might make for more and better orgasms.

The association between a strong pelvic floor and improved sexual response and pleasure led sex therapists to recommend pelvic floor exercises (or kegel exercises as they are known in the US) to clients, and earned the pelvic floor yet another name: “the love muscle”.

So why are pelvic floor exercises helpful in increasing sexual pleasure?

The pelvic floor muscles are directly responsible for the amount of sensation you feel during intercourse, and for the amount of grip felt by your partner. So although an exercise regime for the pelvic floor muscle has the same physiological benefits as exercising any other muscle, the spin-offs are much better.

Exercise improves muscle tone which means that the muscle is tighter, so is stretched more by an erect penis.

Strong, firm muscles have more nerve endings, and more nerve endings mean more sensations for you during sex.

Exercise improves circulation, and this is particular important for the smaller muscles of the pelvic floor, which are responsible for engorging the clitoris when you are aroused.

Rhythmic contractions of the pelvic floor contribute to arousal and to many women’s ability to achieve orgasm. Many women report they are able to reach orgasm more easily, and that their orgasms are more powerful, after a pelvic floor exercise program.

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