Your Pelvic Floor Matters, Here’s Why

Everybody has a pelvic floor—what do you know about yours? Here are the basics. Thanks to @RenewLife for sponsoring this episode!

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So YES, the pelvic floor is a real thing. You have as your pelvis a ring of bones here, and at the very base is a basket of muscles that attach from the pubic bone in the front, the sacrum and the tailbone in the back and then sling side to side and they help support your pelvic organs.

This includes the bladder, urethra, rectum, bowel, and anus. *In female-bodied people, they also include the uterus, cervix, and vagina. In male-bodied people, the pelvic floor supports the prostate.

This part of the body is still kind of shrouded in mystery… and even though everyone has one, female-bodied people are particularly affected because of pregnancy and childbirth.

Read More:
Yes, You Really Can Do Too Many Kegels. Here's What Happens.
https://www.healthline.com/health/parenting/yes-you-really-can-do-too-many-kegels-heres-what-happens#Where-it-goes-wrong
“Ever have a charley horse in your calf or a knot in your neck? The same thing can happen in your vagina. Yes, it’s true. I know. Shocking.”

What is pelvic organ prolapse? Women, doctors share their experiences
https://www.today.com/health/what-pelvic-organ-prolapse-women-share-their-experiences-t219228
“According to the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, women in the U.S. have a 13% lifetime risk of having surgery to address pelvic organ prolapse.”

Kegels: Not for women only
https://www.health.harvard.edu/mens-health/kegels-not-for-women-only
https://www.popsugar.com/family/what-to-expect-from-postpartum-pelvic-floor-physiotherapy-47840230
"Men also can have issues with these muscles, which can cause urinary leakage, bowel trouble, and even erection problems," says physical therapist Celia Brunette, with Harvard-affiliated Spaulding Rehabilitation Center.”

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Editor's Note: At Seeker, we recognized that people of many genders and identities have vaginas and uteruses, and are affected by the topics that fall into women’s health. For this episode, we interviewed experts who generally referred to people with vaginas and uteruses as women.

Body Language is Seeker’s latest series diving into the world of women’s health, and their bodies. For so long, the medical field only used men to conduct research, creating a gap in terms of what we know about women’s bodies. So in this series, we'll be talking to experts to get a better understanding of some of these issues, and what we actually know about them. So join us as we discover how incredibly cool the female body is and how much more we still have to learn about it.

Thanks to Renew Life for sponsoring this episode.

Body Language is Seeker’s latest series diving into the world of women’s health, and their bodies. For so long, the medical field only used men to conduct research, creating a gap in terms of what we know about women’s bodies. So in this series, we'll be talking to experts to get a better understanding of some of these issues, and what we actually know about them. So join us as we discover how incredibly cool the female body is and how much more we still have to learn about it.