By: Sydney Stevens, PT, DPT, PRPC

Think of your core as a Coke can. At the top of the “can” is your diaphragm. Under this, you have the abdominal wall, as well as your lower back muscles, which act as the sides of the can and help make the can sturdy. Your pelvic floor is the base that stabilizes everything.

The pelvic floor is made up of 12 different muscles for females and 10 different muscles for males. These muscles are split into 3 layers to surround and support the urinary, bowel, and sexual functions.

Your diaphragm and your pelvic floor work together. If you take a nice big breath in, your lungs expand, and your diaphragm shifts down. With this movement, you want your pelvic floor to also move down and relax because you want the intraabdominal pressure to be regulated.

Pelvic Floor Stability

Athletes often brace their cores- which is a good thing! However, often when the athlete takes a large breath in to brace, their diaphragm moves down, but their pelvic floor is tightened. This causes an increase in abdominal pressure. If the athlete does not have proper breathing mechanics to regulate that pressure, issues such as incontinence can occur.

The pelvic floor needs to work with the rest of the core to manage pressure. Having proper inner abdominal pressure can help prevent leakage with running, sprinting, jogging, swimming, and playing your sport. Specifically, if you are a soccer athlete, when you go for a kick, you don’t want to leak urine, which often occurs because that hit causes an imbalance of motor control.

Pelvic Floor Mobility

These muscles must be mobile and stable. If your muscles are too tight, it can lead to:

  • Hip restrictions,
  • Hip pain,
  • Groin pain,
  • Abdominal pain, and
  • Gluteal pain.

Without mobility in your pelvic floor, you limit your range of motion, and this could lead to issues other than pain down the line.

Athletes need to be cognizant of their pelvic floors to help prevent future injury, increase their awareness of motor function, and improve mobility. If you are an athlete who wants to level up your intraabdominal pressure control, schedule an appointment with a Spooner pelvic floor physical therapist today!