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12 WEEKS TO A STRONGER PELVIC FLOOR

Physiotherapy-led pelvic floor exercise program

  • 12 Week program for pelvic floor muscle strengthening
  • Evidence-based program created by a Women’s Health Physiotherapist
  • For women of all fitness levels.
  • Bonus Downloadable Exercise Support Sheets
  • Bladder Leakage Quiz
  • Expert advice and articles
  • Free Poise Samples
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MEET OUR PELVIC FLOOR EXPERT

Caitlin Dunsford

The 12 Weeks to a Stronger Pelvic Floor Program is created with Physiotherapist in Women's Health Caitlin Dunsford. Caitlin is a qualified physiotherapist with training in pelvic health and continence. She is the director of the private physiotherapy practice The Hills Physio, the founder of the education platform The Pelvic Floor Project and is a co-host on the podcast "Inside the box". As a mum of 2 and someone who has experienced bladder leakage herself, Caitlin is passionate about sharing evidence based information on bladder control and the pelvic floor

Over 80% of Australian mothers experience bladder leakage but shockingly over half of these mothers think they are the only ones living with this condition*. To stop women suffering in silence, the Poise Pledge campaign looks to raise awareness about bladder leakage so women don't feel alone and Poise offers women free expert support so they can get the help they need. This includes education, physiotherapy-led pelvic floor muscle strengthening videos and expert advice to help women improve the condition.

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

Research suggests that in order to improve pelvic floor muscle strength and coordination in a way that results in reduced leaking, you need to follow a therapist led pelvic floor muscle program that is progressive (gets harder over time) and runs for 12 weeks.
The pelvic floor is a group of muscles that sits at the base of the pelvis. It runs from your pubic bone at the front, to your tailbone at the back and extends between your left and right sit bones. 
Research suggests pelvic floor exercises need to be completed for a minimum of 12 weeks to gain improvements in incontinence and prolapse symptoms. Many women will start to notice improvements in symptoms (i.e. less leaking) after 4 weeks. It is important to note that treating incontinence requires a full assessment and treatment plan from a medical professional. Pelvic floor muscle training has been shown to improve bladder control, under the direct supervision of a health professional.
Unfortunately, there is no shortcut. The pelvic floor is a muscle just like any other in the body that requires consistent exercise in a formulated way to build strength over time.
The program is an online video physiotherapist-led exercise program you can follow in your own time on your device, from home. The exercises are guided by a physiotherapist and gradually build up over the 12 weeks.
A pelvic floor exercise refers to an exercise where the pelvic floor muscles are contracted and then relaxed. Kegel is another way of saying “pelvic floor exercise” and originated in the mid-1900s. The name Kegel comes from American gynaecologist Arnold Kegel. Pelvic floor exercises can differ in regards to how long you hold them for, how strongly you hold the muscle, what position you are in and if you are doing any other exercise at the same time.
If your pelvic floor is weak, you may experience symptoms of leaking urine during activity or on the way to the toilet. Or you may experience a sensation of vaginal heaviness or bulging. A health professional can assess you using an internal vaginal exam and/or specialised device to measure the strength of the pelvic floor and comment on if it is weak.
This is dependant on the person doing them and the activity you leak in. For example if you always leak standing up, then it is important to practice pelvic floor exercises in this position. If you are doing pelvic floor exercises as part of a strengthening program it is advised that you do pelvic floor exercises in a variety of positions including lying, sitting and standing.
It may surprise you to hear that you don’t need to be doing a lot of pelvic floor exercises straight after birth. Your focus should be on rest, recovery and avoiding things like constipation which will put extra stress on the muscles. The exception to this rule is if you have had significant trauma to the area and this has been repaired with stitches (in the case of an obstetric anal sphincter injury for example) in which case your exercises will be prescribed by your treating team. If you are experiencing leaking or heaviness, then pelvic floor exercises can be useful and these look like squeezing and relaxing your pelvic floor in a way that builds on the length of contraction and number of contractions over time. Eg. 10x 2 second holds up to 10x 10 second holds. You also will do these in progressively harder positions starting from lying, then sitting and finally standing.
The main types of incontinence are stress urinary incontinence, urge urinary incontinence and mixed urinary incontinence. Other less common types are nocturnal enuresis (bed wetting), functional incontinence and overflow incontinence.
There are some types of exercises that might be more helpful for stress incontinence, this includes learning “the knack” – a pelvic floor muscle squeeze pre-emptively before performing an activity where you know you leak. And some types of exercises that might be more helpful for urge incontinence, such as using a pelvic floor contraction to supress the urge to wee as part of a bladder retraining program. However, at a basic level, a pelvic floor muscle training program designed at strengthening and improving coordination of the pelvic floor looks the same across all types of incontinence.
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Disclaimer

*Source : Continence AU


The content on this website and the 12 Weeks to a Stronger Pelvic Floor Program has been created by the Poise® team in consultation with Caitlin Dunsford, and is based on the most recent healthcare literature at the time of publication, as well as clinical experience of health care professionals. This information has been created for the purpose of helping women gain a greater understanding of incontinence and the pelvic floor and is designed as a general resource for the specified patient population described on this website. It is not individually prescribed and is not an alternative for individual advice or guidance from your health care provider. Before engaging in any physical activity or making any changes to your lifestyle, you should seek advice from your relevant health care provider.

To the extent permitted by law, Poise®, Caitlin Dunsford (and any other healthcare professional, where relevant) do not accept any liability or responsibility for claims, errors, omissions, or any aspect of health care self-administered by participants based on the information contained here. Poise® may remove or amend the 12 Weeks to a Stronger Pelvic Floor Program at any time without notice.