Best Exercises for Prolapse and Bladder Leaks 💖 Safely Strengthen Your Pelvic Floor!

[Music] foreign [Music] and I'm a physical therapist specializing in pelvic floor Health today we're going to be doing a workout that has some of my favorite moves for bladder health great for prolapse and bladder leaks and even discomfort but first if you haven't already please subscribe to my channel and click the little bell to get notifications so that you never miss a new video alright once you've done that let's go ahead and get right to the workout so for this workout all you'll need is a yoga mat and maybe a blanket or padding something for under your knees might be needed all right the first move actually you know what this is really important for me to say these moves are wonderful for strengthening and toning the pelvic floor muscles and also releasing them too we're going to be doing both strength work and release work very helpful for prolapse pelvic shift of the bladder so it's also called cystocele it is also helpful for bladder leaks urgency frequency things like that it can be helpful for people who have pain in the bladder and pelvic area however for all of these things that I just mentioned especially for pain it's really important that you get medical clearance first to be sure that there's not some type of bladder infection that you have going on or something that needs to be medically treated okay so with that out of the way if you feel confident that we can proceed let's get to it so we are going to begin actually standing up with a little mini squat so this is not like a crazy deep squat it's really really tiny just a couple of inches what I want to show you from the side is what this will look like so you're going to squat down sit back just a few inches hinging at your hips your hips are right here and sitting your butt back so be sure that you're not over your toes like this and also be sure that you're not rounding your back and and butt and tucking your bum under so you want to sit back and then come up now there's a few Keys here keep practicing that you're sitting back and then coming up feet are spread out nice and wide toes are pointing forward maybe a little bit turned out but not much basically forward sitting back and coming up exhale as you come up to stand keep practicing and I want to show you the muscles that we're working so when you're doing this squat we're working our pelvic floor muscles the pelvic floor muscles you can see from the inside right here and if you're looking up up at the pelvic floor you can see them in a different angle right here now I want you to notice the sitting bones your butt bones here and here notice how the muscles span between the sitting Bones the pelvic floor muscles span between the sitting bones the pubic bone in the front the tailbone on the back and then there's a deeper layer as well there's lots going on in the pelvic floor so it's not just one muscle there's lots of muscles that we're working but the sitting bones can give you a really nice reference point for this exercise so I want you to feel your sitting bones releasing apart as you squat back there's length in the pelvic floor and then as you stand you should feel almost like a lift like a Kegel like a Kegel exercise a squeeze and lift of your pelvic floor muscles as you come up to stand so a couple more times sitting back and then exhale feel the lift of your pelvic floor like a little Kegel and exhale you'll feel a gentle drawing in of your abdominals as well last time all right nice job so for this next one you might want padding for under your knees we're going to do a little hover so one thing that's important to mention before we do this which is very similar to the squat is that the reason we're that the squat is safe for your pelvic floor is that even if you have bladder prolapse is because you're not tucking your bum under now if you were tucking your bum under that whole time that would cause a lot of downward pressure on your pelvic floor in your bladder area so we really want to think about alignment for that first squat exercise and for this one so for this move your knees are apart and your feet are close together so what you're going to do is you're going to sit back hinging at your hips again alignment if you go like this and kind of crunch down through your low bet you're rounded through your low back and your butt tucked under and you're hunchy here that causes a lot of downward pressure on your pelvic floor and your bladder and that's going to irritate your bladder it's going to cause discomfort and too much pressure down so I want you to hinge at your hips release your bum and hover back oh it's a lot of work and come up now what I want you to notice is this position of slight external rotation at your hips naturally activates your pelvic floor so that we're doing a lot of work in this move just by hovering down hinging at your hips and then coming up one more time that's all so come down hover hinging at your hips and then come on up okay now before we're completely done with this move we're gonna stay nice and high and I just want you to tuck and untuck your bum so little pulses you're going to feel this in your thighs and your pelvic muscles your pelvic floor your abdominals everything is feeling this so really let's go slow and controlled but let's do three more three two and one okay nice job come on to your hands and knees next so we're gonna move into actually I'll come this way we're going to move into a cat and cow pose cat and cow has been shown to be extremely effective at activating and releasing the pelvic floor in fact it's been shown to be more effective than kegels as far as pelvic floor activation which I will show you now so first we're going to release the pelvic floor by going into cow pose next we're going to tuck the bomb this is one time where you can tuck the bum it's not horrible to tuck the bum under we just don't want to do it all day long but for this type of exercise where you're flowing between cow pose and Cat pose you're getting a release of the pelvic floor release of the sitting bones apart and then an activation of the pelvic floor so it's like you're doing a Kegel squeezing and lifting your pelvic floor pulling your belly button toward your spine and exhaling inhale cow pose release and then exhale lifting the pelvic floor pulling belly button to spine breathing your air out again inhale cow pose and exhale cat pose let's do two more just to really make sure we get this so cow pose releasing the sitting bones apart and then cat pose lifting the pelvic floor like a Kegel pulling the belly button toward the spine exhaling all your air out and last round and exhale now we're gonna find the space right in between both extremes so you're not in cow and you're not in cat you're in a nice tabletop back position back is flat like a tabletop in this position I want you to inhale relax your belly so breathe into your belly breathe into your ribs exhale all your [Applause] belly button toward your spine we're going to feel the core connection right here so pull that belly button toward your spine as you exhale you're going you're going to feel the connection between your pelvic floor your deep ABS everything is connected and turned on now keep it turned on and active and your neck's going to inhale into your chest so breathing up high inhale into your chest and then exhale lift and feel that core connection even more as you do this do not round and tuck your back keep your back flat like a table top lifting feeling that core connection one more time breathe into your chest and then exhale feel that core connection even more it's a lot of work and then release let everything go and maybe even sit back onto your knees and just release out your wrists so that particular exercise we're going to do it one more time is a great way to feel that connection between your entire core your pelvic floor your ab and back corset muscles your breathing diaphragm it all works together so while you're doing this you're also really managing the pressure in your abdominal area there's never this like bearing down or pressure feeling you're feeling like a lift on all of your organs it should feel really good so let's do it again and this time if you want to add a very optional hover at the end you can so I'll show you how to do that but first inhale into your belly into your ribs just expansively inhale now exhale and lift your belly button toward your spine also feel your pelvic floor activate so it's like a lift of the pelvic floor and a pulling in of your low low ABS that deep core is connected and turned on now breathe into your chest rather than your belly so a little bit higher than normal and then exhale feel that core connection even more pull everything in and up your pelvic floor is active your low abs are active breathe into your chest again and then exhale core connect even more you should feel so strong through here now if you want to keep that core connection inhale again into your chest exhale again and lift the knees up off the ground just an inch or two not much and then set them down okay great job release now the key to that move is that you're keeping your back flat like a tabletop the whole time you're not rounding and you're not super super arching okay flat like a table top roll out the wrists and after all of that let's go into bridge this is a wonderful exercise for pelvic floor strength so come down through your side onto your back we've been doing a lot of Activation so don't worry we will be releasing soon so bring your knees under your or your feet under your knees inhale and then exhale roll up one vertebrae at a time so that your hips are lifted high up off the ground now a bridge has been shown to be more effective at activating the pelvic floor than a Kegel exercise when done correctly and part of the reason why is you're also activating your glutes your inner thigh muscles they should be turned on too so that your knees aren't like this you want to be turned on through the whole Center Line of the body also love Bridge because if you have prolapse all any position like this is going to help reorganize and reposition your pelvic organs position so they're not so low you can pull everything back into place all right let's roll down one vertebrae at a time ah and relax Let It Go now I want you to stay till the very end of this workout so even if you're getting tired please keep going with me and stay till the end because our most important move is actually coming up at the very very end let's do one more Bridge so after you've released taken a moment to just breathe maybe even push pause on this video if you have pelvic tension or pain Push pause and take a longer rest break but if you're ready let's do one more Bridge so feet are under your knees inhale exhale roll yourself up up up hold it nice and high you're active through the center line of your body everything is turned on and strong let's hold it for five four three two one you've got it and then roll down one vertebrae at a time nice job okay let those legs flop apart and just even roll to the side I love to call this opening and closing like a book so you're opening up your legs and then setting them together this is a great little low back massage and it's very releasing for the pelvic floor so remember if you have any type of pelvic tension or pain then you might need to take longer if you have bladder irritation and you feel that that's contributing to pelvic floor tension which it often does then pause the video and maybe just relax take a breather and then come back to the workout which we're going to continue in just a moment but before we get to the next strengthening move I want you to bring your right knee up toward your right armpit so the left leg can either be flopped out to the side like this or it can be straight but I want you to bring that right knee toward the right armpit so find a position that feels really comfy you can hold on under your thigh or around your shin whatever you like just breathe and relax into your pelvic Bowl so feel like your pelvic muscles all of the muscles in your pelvic floor area the muscles around your anus the muscles around your urethra all of these muscles are relaxed often one reason we can have bladder urgency and frequency is because these muscles are quite tense and so we want to just relax give these muscles a break so they don't always have to be so turned on and active yeah breathing into the pelvic Bowl and then we'll switch sides so same exact thing other side very slowly move sometimes when you feel like you are supposed to move really fast slow it down I invite you to go as slow as you need to go to feel really relaxed and calm so now the left knee goes toward the left armpit holding on behind your thigh or around your shins whatever feels yummy to you then this right leg can be straight or it can be kind of flopped out to the side see what see what you like breathing and relaxing these muscles because interestingly weak muscles are often tight so tight muscles don't necessarily mean strong muscles oftentimes the first step for strengthening in order to help with things like prolapse or bladder leakage is actually learning how to release and let the muscles relax because tight muscles are not strong they're just tired tight muscles are tired they're exhausted and they can't work right if they can't relax all the way so take this time it's actually one of the most important parts of strengthening is to learn how to relax okay so now that we've had this nice rest and release break it's really important that we do some more strengthening so we're not quite done with the strength work let's go ahead and move into a move that seems harder it looks easier than it is it's actually quite hard so this is the move we're dropping the left leg out to the side and then bringing it back up so the thing here the key is that you are engaged through the entire core team so I want you to begin by gently activating your pelvic floor like a tiny little Kegel so a gentle squeeze and lift of the pelvic floor drawing in and up and then feel your low ABS activate at the same time they're a team they work together so your low abs are nice and turned on it's almost like you're drawing your hip spikes together now if your low ribs are kind of flared and popped open Draw them in your low back it shouldn't be pressed into the ground like super duper pressed down like that but it definitely should not be arched now keep that entire core team strong and active and don't let your body tip side to side as you drop that left leg the knee down and bring it back up I want you to notice how you should feel this inner thigh pelvic floor your deep abdominals everything is like feeling it everything is working together and you are the Army thing so exhaling with the work and if you don't breathe if you hold your breath it causes this pressure management issue where things are you get this buildup of pressure and that is really bad for your pelvic organs for your pelvic floor so breathe manage your intra-abdominal pressure let's just do two more and notice this right leg is should at least be pretty steady the whole time it's just this left leg that's moving okay finish it up and oh let it let it go let your knees kind of flop apart maybe draw your knees in and circle them around and then we're going to do the same thing on the other side so relax take a deep breath into your belly don't be contracted right now and now we will activate so zip up your core is what I call this pelvic floor is active and lifted you're Gathering up your pelvic floor your low abs are turned on your lower ribs are dropped if they were flared up we don't want that so knit together your ribs and your pelvis everything is neutral through your spine and your right leg slowly drops down and lifts up it's like a butterfly exercise but you're only doing one side at a time the slower you go the harder it is so actually go slow don't flop through this really fast or you won't get the benefit so take your time feel that you're using those muscles as much as you can and you are breathing do not hold your breath if you ever feel your belly pooching up or if you feel downward pressure in your pelvic floor area you're doing something wrong okay so you need to reactivate your core you need to make sure you're not holding your breath you're breathing appropriately and this should be hard so if you feel like it's easy to be honest with you to be brutally honest you're probably doing it wrong so make sure that this feels hard it should feel challenging maybe you're even shaking a little bit to keep your core steady as you drop as you slowly lower and lift that right leg let's just do maybe one or two more I'm terrible at counting you might know know that from me by now but try to be even between your two sides and now that you're here don't release the core keep it strong keep it active and just straighten one leg and put it down and straighten the other and put it down you should feel your low ABS turned on and strong do not let your low back arch you want to keep everything neutral your low ribs are gently drawn in you are just switching back and forth this is working at the pelvic floor the abdominals it's turning everything on as a team one more on each side and last one here oh so good okay lower one leg lower the other big long pencil stretch nice job we are going to open and close like a book one more time and if you happen to have a yoga block um that's wonderful for our last exercise which is our releasing pose another releasing pose it's um a resting pose so you can be in supported Bridge otherwise known as hips up time I like to call it hips up time in my lift program and my overcome pelvic pain program if you have a yoga block that's wonderful for hips up time you can also do this with your legs up the wall so you can just scooch your bum next to the wall and then put your legs up on the wall that's a really rejuvenating posture but I will show you hips up time if you don't have a wall or you don't have a yoga block and you don't want to do any of these things then you can also just lie down in shavasana but hips up time is my favorite so you're gonna put the yoga block or the pillow right under your sacrum the back part of your pelvis so it's not too high it's right under your pelvis the back part of your pelvis in this position gravity helps reorganize your pelvic organs pull everything back into its rightful position and it just really allows you to rest and relax in a restorative Bridge so I had mentioned that this is the most important exercise of all and it feels like you're doing nothing but don't skip it because what I want you to do is really work on visualization in this position so close your eyes maybe you can put your hands on your pelvis if you want to if you think of your pubic bone area just behind that is where your bladder lives and I want you to think of your bladder and visualize a really beautiful calm healthy and happy bladder with lots of rejuvenated energy and blood flow in that area I want you to imagine your bladder just so calm so relaxed full of restorative blood flow and circulation to the tissues that surround it into the muscle wall of the bladder itself just imagine that it is healthy it's in a really great lifted position in your body right where it's supposed to be all of the supportive tissues are around it and they feel so strong and I want you to bring some attention to the energetic and emotional Sensations that are in the area and interestingly our bodies store emotion they store things and sometimes our bladder can store energy and emotion related to frustration or anger literally it's like our bladder holds emotions of being pissed off so is there anything in your life that needs to be forgiven so if anything comes to mind just bring that thing to mind maybe it's a person or a situation just bring that to mind and see if you can bring forgiveness to that situation because forgiveness is so important it doesn't mean that you've forgotten and it also doesn't mean that the person or the situation was right but it means that you're no longer holding the resentment and the pain of that situation in your body you're letting it go you're no longer hurting yourself with the anger and frustration that you're holding on to so again forgiveness doesn't mean you've forgotten it doesn't mean they were right it doesn't mean it was right that it happened it just means that you're not holding on to the pain anymore so if anything comes to you your mind that you can release and let go please do that right now and just send one more big wash of love and positive energy to that area of your bladder that internal part of your body where your bladder lives and picture that beautiful healthy relaxed calm happy and love filled bladder it might sound silly to do these types of relaxation and visualization techniques but they can be so incredibly powerful thank you so one more deep breath and then when you're ready you're going to carefully come off of your block if you were in hips up time and carefully press up to a seated position through your side you never want to just jack knife up you want to Exhale and press yourself up to a seated position so that workout is something you can do regularly to release the pelvic muscles and also gently strengthen the entire core team which includes the pelvic floor and of course that visualization at the end is super powerful too so if you liked this video please give it a thumbs up and share it with a friend who might need it and if you want more ways to work with me there are links and resources in the video description so thank you so much for your time and attention I hope this has served you and until next time remember eat clean move every day and you will shine brighter bye [Music] foreign

Channel: Dr. Bri's Vibrant Pelvic Health

Views: 478,928

Keywords: pelvic health, womens health, pelvic floor, core, core fitness, prolapse, pelvic floor friendly, dr. bri, femfusion fitness pelvic floor, pelvic floor exercises for women, pelvic floor training, pelvic floor therapy, pelvic floor exercises, at home workout, safe workout for prolapse, prolapse safe exercises, prolapse exercises, vibrant pelvic health, prolapse friendly, pelvic tension, best exercises for prolapse, best exercises for bladder leaks, bladder health workout

Id: QyYOdUGokpY

Length: 26min 39sec (1599 seconds)

Published: Wed Apr 19 2023