Pelvic floor physical therapy should empower you, not put you down!

Alison (Chaos Coord--I mean, Care Coordinator) here. This year, like all years, I did a fair amount of my holiday shopping online. As I scrolled through Amazon looking for PT themed gifts, I came across a mug that said "Incontinence hotline, please hold." I seriously LOL'd. (No leakage!)  But then I scrolled by a book that said "Your pelvic floor sucks." Oof. Ouch. 

"Your pelvic floor sucks, but it doesn't have to!" I get it. They were trying to be funny and relatable in an effort to get you to pick up their book and empower yourself to a better pelvic floor. It actually looks like an ok book, but the name just doesn't sit right with me.

I work in a pelvic floor physical therapy practice, but I'm also a patient who has had to overcome chronic pelvic pain. I have a couple of chronic illnesses and one thing I've learned along the way is that how I speak to myself about my body matters. When I first started pelvic floor physical therapy, yeah, I probably would have agreed that my pelvic floor sucks. Ok, in moments of frustration, I've definitely said my whole body sucks. But here's the thing: it doesn't, and telling myself it did really didn’t make me feel any better. It actually made me feel worse about myself and my future health. 

Your pelvic floor doesn't suck. Your pelvic floor may have carried a baby. It took a hit every time you were told to suck your stomach in or tuck your butt to try to fit an idea of what our bodies should look like. Your pelvic floor was in the trenches with you as you fought against pain from endometriosis, adenomyosis, or fibroids. Your pelvic floor supported you through years of being an athlete...or 15 years of doing ballet "wrong" if you're me 😅 Your pelvic floor muscles (and other muscles) were really clever and figured out how to compensate for injuries or weaknesses. It changed to try to protect you the best way it could.

Your pelvic floor has spent a long time working really hard and these symptoms you're dealing with are its way of telling you that it needs help. It's a part of you that's held you up (literally) for so long, and now it needs support, too. So no, your pelvic floor doesn't suck. It needs TLC and probably some pelvic floor physical therapy.