Two months ago we came out with Debunking Common Pelvic Floor Myths: Separating Fact from Fiction and addressed some untruths in the realm of pelvic floor care and dysfunction. These myths were people related and a little more on the broader scale. Today, we are bringing you four more pelvic floor myths we believe need to be BUSTED! We will be discussing things from leaking urine to tailbone injuries. As always, we believe education is power and the best way to advocate for yourself, and we hope you learn something new and feel empowered by the truth.
1. It is normal to leak urine postpartum.
Raise your hand if you’ve ever been with a momma and she is cracking up, crossing her legs, and while still laughing, exclaiming, “I’m gonna pee!” Many of us have had similar experiences when the mommas in our life bust out laughing, or if not this exact scenario, something similar. The common thought after babies is that leakage just comes with birthing babies, and while leakage and other urinary dysfunction symptoms are common postpartum, they are not normal. Whether this leakage is when you laugh, cough, sneeze, is on the way to the bathroom, or when you’re just standing there, or whether you’ve had babies or not, you should not experience urinary leakage.
2. Sometimes sex just hurts. It’s just the way it is.
You should never accept that sex just hurts. Sex should not be painful. Period. The end. Not the first time, not after a baby, not after or during menopause. Unfortunately, this myth is perpetuated over and over again, sometimes even by your women’s health practitioner, and it genuinely harms women. Now, there are many reasons why sex might be painful: too much tone in the pelvic floor, inadequate preparation for penetration, Vaginismus or Vulvodynia, Endometriosis or Adenomyosis, and more, but penetration, or inserting tampons for that matter, should not hurt. You do not need to just accept it, drink a glass of wine, “relax” and deal with it. The reasons behind pain with sex are treatable with pelvic floor therapy.
3. Going to the bathroom a lot just means I have a small bladder.
If you are anything like me, you might have had a family member who had to go to the bathroom ALL THE TIME. For me, it was a male family member who we always just said had a “squirrel bladder”. What he really had was urinary frequency, and it is a form of pelvic floor dysfunction. You should go to the bathroom four to six times a day or every two to four hours. More than that and there is the presence of urinary frequency. Many times, this can be tied in with habits, external cues, the brain to bladder connection, and dysfunction in some of the muscles of the pelvic floor. You don’t have to be chained to going to the bathroom every hour or half hour. It doesn’t mean you just have a small bladder. You can do something about it.
4. My tailbone injury was so long ago it isn’t relevant now.
Let’s address something fast before getting specific, the body remembers. Let’s say you injured your left ankle when you were twelve. It healed up fine, but suddenly, you’re 22 and your left hip hurts when you run. You might never connect these two things, but a good PT will. When a trauma occurs in the body, our incredible and miraculous bodies will adapt to provide support or move differently to eliminate pain. We should thank our bodies for this, but we also need to be aware of the long-term impact to our bodies’ these acute reactions cause. In the same way that a twisted ankle might cause hip pain, a tailbone injury can lead to pelvic floor dysfunction. As we have already mentioned, but is worth mentioning again, our body is intricately connected to itself. It may have been two, five, or ten years ago, but that injury might be causing problems you never noticed before now or might be the root of problems you never imagined were connected.
If you are dealing with pelvic floor dysfunction and don't know what your next step is, first, pause and take a breath. It is going to be okay. There are solutions, and you are not alone. Our Patient Care Coordinator is ready and excited to speak with you and get you started on the journey to address your symptoms! You can give us a call at 346-677-0150 or contact us here to schedule a call today.
Here is what one Empower patient had to say:
"The women at Empower are impressive. They offer such personalized care related to pelvic floor and beyond. My therapist is knowledgeable, passionate, and empowering! She assessed me for general health during my second pregnancy, prepared me for a successful vbac, guided my postpartum recovery (which allowed me to forgo unwanted, “normal” postpartum occurrences I experienced with my first csection/pp), aided healing from old injuries, and focused on recovering from current issues I deal with as a dental hygienist. Blown away by the outstanding, full body care I’ve received from several of the therapists at Empower this year. I’d recommend them to anyone without hesitation!" - J
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