You may not spend much time thinking about your pelvic floor until it stops working like it’s supposed to.  Your pelvic floor plays a crucial role in bladder and bowel control, sexual function, and core stability.  If you have started to notice weak pelvic floor symptoms, you may be wondering what you can do to help improve your pelvic floor.

What are Symptoms of a Weak Pelvic Floor?

One of the first weak pelvic floor symptoms you may notice is urinary incontinence.  This could occur when you laugh, sneeze or cough or it may interrupt exercise.  You may also feel a sudden urge to urinate.

In some cases, women can experience pelvic organ prolapse.  This may feel like heaviness or pressure in the pelvis or even protrusion of organs into the vagina.

Difficulty controlling bowel movements can also be a symptom of a weak pelvic floor.

Painful intercourse or lower back pain can also be signs that you need to strengthen your pelvic floor.

If you are experiencing any of these, you may have a weak pelvic floor that would benefit from treatment.

How to Improve Your Pelvic Floor Strength

While a weak pelvic floor can cause discomfort, it is treatable.

Kegel exercises are a common recommendation for improving the strength of the muscles that support your pelvic floor.  While these are simple to complete, it’s important that they are done correctly and consistently to see results.

You may consider seeing a pelvic floor physical therapist to create a personalized exercise program to address your specific needs.

Lifestyle changes like maintaining a healthy weight and managing constipation with a high fiber diet can also help to improve your weak pelvic floor symptoms.

Incorporate a pelvic floor exerciser like Elitone into your treatment plan.  Elitone can be used discreetly at home and uses neuromuscular stimulation to target and tone your pelvic floor muscles naturally.

How Long Does It Take to See Results from Pelvic Floor Exercises?

The time frame will vary based on the severity of your symptoms and your commitment to improvement.  With consistent effort, many women notice improvement in 6 weeks, particularly if they chose a device like Elitone that helps to make doing exercises regularly and correctly easy.