Reduction in pelvic floor muscle tone - Causes, symptoms and treatment. MF.

Pelvic floor muscles perform a very important role in both the daily life of a woman and during sexual intercourse.

1) They are the main support for internal organs( uterus, vagina, intestine, bladder and urethra).These muscles are located in the form of a "plate", taking on the weight of all internal organs, as well as additional pressure created by straining the muscles of the abdominal press.

2) Several portions of the pelvic floor muscles( sphincters) surround the natural openings located on the perineum and formed by the outlet sections of the internal organs: the anal canal, the vagina and the urethra. Cutting, the sphincters hold these holes in tightly closed condition, helping to hold urine, stool, gases.

The pelvic floor muscles are in a constant tone, but, in addition, if necessary, always ready for a strong active reduction. This need arises from straining, laughing, sneezing, coughing, playing sports, lifting heavy objects, even with simple walking, running, etc. In addition to these types of daily activities, the pelvic floor muscles are probably the main participant in such an important aspect of a person's life as sexual intimacy.

During intercourse, the contraction of the pelvic floor muscles greatly enhances the sexual satisfaction of both sex partners, and the woman herself takes part in the achievement of orgasm.

When everything is in order, we do not even notice how these muscles work, and their training happens unnoticed for us. But it is completely different when the muscles are damaged, weakened and lose their ability in time and with sufficient strength to contract. Such problems occur after childbirth, sometimes - at once, sometimes - after a while, especially this is aggravated with age, with a violation of the hormonal background. This may be due to both damage to the muscle fibers themselves and to the violation of their nervous regulation.

This is what happens when the muscles of the pelvic floor completely lose their tone or the ability to contract:

1) Lack of satisfaction in the sexual life of both partners, and in severe cases - even the impossibility of sexual life

2) The air in the vagina during intercourseor any other movements, torso, squat, sports

3) Omission of the walls of the vagina, uterus, rectum and bladder

4) Loss of control over the bladder, urinary incontinence or obstructed urinedescent

5) Incontinence of stool and / or gases

6) Constipation, feeling of incomplete bowel evacuation

7) With far gone descent - the need to straighten the walls of the vagina in order to urinate or empty the intestines.

8) Constant inflammation of the vaginal walls, chronic urinary infections.

How to regain the lost strength of the muscles so necessary for a woman?

Of course, like any muscle of our body, they must be regularly trained. There are special sets of exercises designed to restore the muscles of the pelvic floor. In some women, regular exercise results in good results, relieving them of most of the troubles. But there is one problem that does not allow to achieve the desired result in the majority of women with a weakened pelvic floor.

The essence of this problem lies in the fact that about 50% of women who lost control of the perineal muscles after birth, are taught correctly( in isolation, strongly and in time) to strain their muscles. In other words, it seems to them that they are doing it, but in reality either nothing happens or nothing is strained by the wrong muscles( for example, gluteal muscles, thigh muscles and abdominal presses).The contraction of the abdominal muscles not only does not help to cope with the problem, but also aggravates it, as the load on the pelvic floor increases, contributing to the increase of urinary incontinence, omission, and so on.

The best solution to this problem is the use of therapeutic methods of biological feedback and electrostimulation of the pelvic floor muscles.

These methods of treatment are aimed at the following tasks:

1) Teaching the correct functioning of the pelvic floor muscles

2) Achieving the required strength, speed and duration of muscle contraction

3) Making "automatic" work of the muscles when they start working as before, withoutconstant mental and psychological stress.

4) Application of the results obtained in everyday life.

Only the solution of all three tasks allows a woman to feel really fully and forget about birth traumas and subsequent suffering caused by them, to get rid of urinary incontinence or prevent it from appearing in the future, to cope with the progressive omission of the vaginal and uterine walls, restore harmony in sexual life andfamily.