Do you have a strong pelvic floor but still leak?

You’ve done your kegels , you do squats and lunges to assist your pelvic floor ; you’ve been told you have a strong pelvic floor contraction and may have even been discharged by a (not so thorough ) pelvic health PT.⁠⠀

Now you are getting back to the stuff you love, running, jump roping, HITT style workouts and are leaking half-way through the activity. What gives?⁠

These are exact questions I got last week from a follower and my follow up question was, “are you holding your kegel the whole time?” “Yes! The whole time!”⁠

That’s the problem. See our deep stabilizers, including our pelvic floor, are neurologically destined to activate right before an increase in pressure. ⁠

Yes, these muscles should have a low level of activation at all times (we can’t really feel that) but they should also increase in activation right before a high impact. That’s right, our magic  unicorn brain and bodies predict when there will be impact. ⁠

This reflexive action may be lost due to pregnancy, birth, injury or surgery. So we need to work on coordination! ⁠

We need to train our brain and our muscles to re-coordinate when to activate and at the right amount to not leak but also not to fatigue.⁠

Yes, there is a baseline level of strength needed to:⁠⠀

A. Support the bladder and ⁠

B. Get full closure of the urethra ⁠

But oftentimes women have no problem the first 20 jumps or 1.5 miles and then start to leak and think they just need to try harder! ⁠

There are many other strength, postural and endurance factors that may be contributing, but we can only cover so much in one post! Reach out for a consultation if you would like to troubleshoot this type of problem.⁠