Pelvic Floor

  1. 3 Steps to Leak Free Gym Sessions

    3 things you can do to stop leaking at the gym.    

    Do you leak when you exercise? Do you make an excuse not to attend if your gym session includes running, skipping or, even worse, double unders and box jumps?

    This is called Stress Urinary Incontinence (SUI) and you are not alone, but there are solutions!

    A recent study1 of over 4500 women found that 46% had stopped exercise they previously enjoyed due to their pelvic floor symptoms. Of these, 41% reported the reason to be SUI.

    Many long term health issues can result from not exercising. For females in particular, due to hormonal fluctuations throughout life’s stages, lack of exercise can affect bone strength, muscle mass and c

    Read more »
  2. Aquaflex is no longer available - what are the alternatives?

    Aquaflex is no longer available - what are the alternatives?

    Aquaflex Pelvic Floor Exercise System has been a favourite easy- to -use set of pelvic floor or kegel weights for decades.
    Sadly production was recently ceased without warning and I have been fielding many questions as to what do we use now?!

    There have always been many alternatives so let's look at what you might want to consider whether for yourself, or if you are a clinician, for your patients.

    For a long time we have had a pelvic floor weight comparison chart on our website which you can view here.
    I created this in response to the "which vaginal weights are best for me / my patient?" question. The answer to that is .....it depends.
    There never has been just one brand that is best.


    The choice of weight should sit squarely with the answer to "what is the width of the genital hiatus?"

    The hiatal width is the

    Read more »
  3. Feedback From Michelle Lyons Courses in Australia

    Feedback From Michelle Lyons Courses in Australia

    Feedback From Michelle Lyons Courses in Australia

    Here is some of the feedback we received from the courses Michelle ran in Australia in 2015:

    • Thanks so much Fiona. The course was so great. I must admit that when I had a look at the course notes, I was worried that I wouldn't learn much new, but I learned so much. Michelle is amazing.
    • It was a great course!
    • Thank you very much for arranging the wonderful Michelle Lyons course at Dubbo!
    Read more »
  4. What's Under Your Pretty Skirt?

    What's Under Your Pretty Skirt?

    The author is a Women's Health Physiotherapist, a colleague and friend of mine .Whilst she prefers to remain anonymous, she has bravely decided to share her story with you all in the hope that it may spread awareness of the importance of vigilant self examination and, more importantly, to act upon anything suspicious that you find and not put it off. If it helps to save even one person from going through what she has then sharing has been worth it.
    It is a very timely post with today being WORLD CANCER DAY.

    Read more »
  5. Your E-Stim / TENS questions answered

    • this means that you do not have a complete circuit. If you are testing by holding between your fingers or in the palm of your hand then you will probably only be able to hold until it reaches 5mA as this will feel quite intense. When the electrode is inserted in the vagina or anus, a much higher mA is tolerated due to better conduction.
    • to test if your machine and electrode are working , attach electrode as normal to machine , place electrode in a glass of water and turn machine on - if it is working correctly you will see the mA go up as you turn it up as the water will conduct the current
    Read more »
  6. Feel the Need, the Need for Speed?

    I feel the need the need for speed

    Do you feel the need, the need for speed when getting to the toilet to pee?

    An urgent need to get to the loo is a common thing and often mistakenly called a "weak bladder" and excuses are made  'I have been like this since I was a child'  or 'it is only since I had the kids'

    There is no such thing as a weak bladder. There are weak pelvic floor muscles, there is stretched fascial tissue, there is a low compliant bladder (the muscular wall of the bladder is stiff and won't stretch well - like blowing up a balloon for the first time), there is an overactive detrusor ( bladder wall muscle which contracts when it shouldn't)  but you don't have a weak bladder - it is the support and control mechanisms that are not working properly.

    Read more »
  7. Pelvic Floor and Exercise : Haemorrhoids from the Gym ?

    Pelvic Floor and Exercise : Haemorrhoids from the Gym ?
    Read more »
  8. Celebrity Continence….?

    Celebrity Continence….?

    Goodness me there have been a lot of media reports of late with stories linking “celebrities” and incontinence….. hopefully in some bizarre way , this may raise the profile of CONTINENCE ISSUES …after all , we all love to do what the celebrities do !!

    Here are a few snippets from recent months in the news:

    • In a very honest acknowledgement actress Debbie Reynolds apparently spoke out about her symptoms of OAB – an overactive bladder which can lead to sudden unexpected small losses of urine.
    Read more »
  9. Getting to the core of things

    Getting to the core of things

    There is a lot of research evidence describing the co-contraction of your CORE MUSCLES pelvic floor (PF) and transversus abdominus (TrA) in unison with your diaphragm (D) and Multifidii (MF). If you think of an apple – the CORE is in the middle,the deepest part – your CORE muscles are your deepest layer of muscles and are designed to gently work in the background.
    Your brain is effectively pre-programmed for this to happen automatically, without you having to think about it. A split second before your ‘moving’ muscles twitch and contract,your brain sends a message to the CORE to tighten – like doing up the stays on a corset, thus stabilising and supporting your spine, pelvis and pelvic organs whilst your ‘moving’ muscles do their job of moving you. When everything is working in harmony, the system works well.

    Read more »
  10. Pelvic Floor Muscle Training in Treatment of Females....latest research

    Pelvic Floor Muscle Training in Treatment of Females....latest research

    World renowned researcher Kari Bo from Norway and associates have just epublished their latest research , ahead of print publication , in the World Journal of Urology .

    The aim was to present and discuss the evidence for “Pelvic floor muscle training in the treatment of female stress urinary incontinence, pelvic organ prolapse and sexual dysfunction.”

    Data sources for the review are from many of the world’s leading resource files such as the Cochrane Review and Pub Med and only RCT’s ( randomly controlled trials) in English were reviewed .

    Read more »