Posture can have a huge effect on our core.

The core is made up of :

1. Pelvic Floor – located at the bottom of the pelvis between the pubic bone and tailbone 
2. Diaphragm – located at the top of our core 
3. Lower abdominals – also known as the transverse abdominis is located in the front, above the pubic bone 
4. Multifidus – muscles that run along the spine in the back 

Thinking about how the muscles attach to our pelvis and spine you can see how they can affect our posture

The  muscles of the core and pelvic floor have multiple actions including: 

• Breathing
• spinal stability
•  internal organ support
•  pelvic stability
•  sphincter control
• sexual pleasure
• lymphatic fluid control.  

Proper posture improves the effectiveness of both the lower abdominal and pelvic floor muscles to contract, relax and lengthen & and allows us to fully use our diaphragm. 

If you think about your daily life, at most jobs, we tend to spend a lot of our time sitting, or standing for long periods of time followed by going home and spending time sitting on the couch and laying in bed to sleep. 

These prolonged postures can cause extensive pressure on the pelvic floor and can intensify symptoms of:

• Urinary & Fecal Incontinence 
• Pelvic Pain
• Low back & Hip pain
• Increase symptoms of Pelvic Organ Prolapse 

Understanding what you’re doing throughout your day and how it can actually affect what your pelvic floor is doing can be helpful in understanding the aches/ pain or other symptoms that you may be experiencing. Thinking about how you position yourself throughout the day is going to be important to consider if you’re having any pelvic floor symptoms. 

During Incorrect Posture: 

• The Pelvic Floor has poor recruitment 
• There is poor activation of the lower abdominal muscles 

Doing activities with incorrect muscles can cause you too:

1. Put too much pressure in ares that can’t handle it – if you are trying a new exercise and aren’t keeping good posture, you can put too much pressure through the core or pelvic floor 
2. Can lead to imbalances of muscles – If you perform exercise in an incorrect posture, it can lead to muscle imbalance having one side of the muscles be too tight or restricted while the other side is too loose and not engaged. 

Proper posture allows us to actually engage everything and be stronger and recruit all of the lower abdominals, the pelvic floor and use our breath support and protect our spine from any injury. 

All the pressure generated while we’re sitting goes down on our Pelvic floor. If you’re slumped too far forward, or too far back, extra pain and pressure can be applied to the pelvic floor and make it not work as efficiently. If you’re in a slumped back posture, you lean back and place the weight on the sacrum and are not able to fully engage the abdominal wall. 

In a standing posture you don’t want to be too far forward or too backwards. Check to make sure your head is in line with shoulders in line with your hips, down to the ankles and feet. Make sure your back isn’t arched. 

Tip: Use a mirror to find good posture, make sure your head is up and you are not arching your back or slouching forward. 

Partnering with a pelvic floor therapist can help to find the correct posture, correct alignment. A pelvic floor therapist can help you fully engage your pelvic floor muscles, connect to your lower abdominals for stability,  and give you a better well rounded workout to help protect the pelvic floor.  A pelvic PT can help you get out of extended pressures to help reduce pelvic pain, reduce pelvic floor muscle issues such as urinary incontinence, fecal incontinence or even issues like pelvic organ prolapse, give us a call to talk to one of our pelvic PTs.