Women’s Health Wednesday
Here is a great video below that talks about how pelvic floor health issues are common, but how they are not spoken about and are not normal.
Let’s start talking about it, so we can lead happier and lives.
Here is a great video below that talks about how pelvic floor health issues are common, but how they are not spoken about and are not normal.
Let’s start talking about it, so we can lead happier and lives.
We are super excited to announce that Craig Harris will be joining the team at Flow Physio Co Sutherland from Monday 15 October, 2018.
Craig brings a wealth of knowledge and experience and has worked with people from all walks of life during his roles at sports physiotherapy clinics in the Bankstown area, the Eastern Suburbs and at Westmead Private Rehabilitation Hospital.
Additionally, Craig has gained extensive experience working with adolescent athletes in the NSW Schoolboys Rugby Union side, South Sydney Rabbitohs Junior program and with Trinity Grammar School.
Craig understands the importance of an individualised treatment approach, incorporating his strong hands on skills with progressive exercise prescription to enable prompt recovery, optimal performance, quality of life and longevity.
So what can you do about it?
The Royal Australian College of General Practitioners recently updated their guidelines for management of hip and knee osteoarthritis.
Little to our surprise, the interventions that come with strong recommendations based on available evidence for managing these conditions include EXERCISE and WEIGHT MANAGEMENT.
Osteoarthritis the most common form of chronic arthritis that is characterised by joint pain, stiffness and swelling, and mainly affects the hands, knees and hips.
Osteoarthritis frequently occurs in people aged over 55 years, however younger people can also be affected.
Risk factors for OA include:
Joint injury
Being overweight or obese, and
Older age
Lifestyle, lifestyle, lifestyle. We are seeing a recurring pattern here. In short, regular exercise and weight management are the interventions that are strongly recommended for people living with osteoarthritis.
Regular exercise is strongly recommended as a key factor for relieving pain and improving function in people with knee and/or hip osteoarthritis. This includes muscle strengthening exercises as well as walking and Tai Chi.
Weight management is strongly recommended for people with knee and/or hip OA who are overweight or obese.
An exercise program that is tailored specifically to you and your level of function is a key aspect of helping to manage osteoarthritis. It is not a once size fits all approach, particularly when it comes to proper programming for strength and cardiovascular endurance. This is where the help of a physiotherapist or exercise physiologist will help.
The RACGP suggests the following;
Clinicians should prescribe an individualised exercise program, taking into account the person’s preference, capability, and the availability of resources and local facilities.
Realistic goals should be set. Dosage should be progressed with full consideration given to the frequency, duration and intensity of exercise sessions, number of sessions, and the period over which sessions should occur.
Attention should be paid to strategies to optimise adherence.
Referral to an exercise professional to assist with exercise prescription and provide supervision either in person or remotely may be appropriate for some people.
Exercise has many other health benefits that can assist in managing lifestyle diseases and optimising health. See post here.
In conclusion, what this means is that there is plenty that you can do in order to optimise your function and quality of life. Exercise, particularly strength training and weight management are strongly recommended in the management of osteoarthritis.
Getting advice from a physiotherapist or exercise physiologist will help in getting started on the path back to better health.
If you think of your bicep muscle this needs to be able to contract to pick something up and relax to put something down. Imagine if the bicep was contracted all day long, it would be really hard to use your arm functionally and your bicep muscle would not work efficiently. Especially when strength is needed, the pelvic floor is the same.
Some women have pelvic floor muscles which have difficulty relaxing and remain constantly contracted. This however does NOT mean they are strong, imagine how tired they would be when you need them!
Symptoms will vary from person to person, but often include:
Pain with sex
Pain with using tampons
Pain with pap-smears
Pelvic or back pain
Difficulty emptying bladder or bowel (constipation)
Incontinence
Increased sensation of needing to urinate
People who tend to have a higher risk for an over-active pelvic floor include:
People with an overactive bladder, this is due to always needing to squeeze their pelvic floor to minimise leaking
Strong athletic women with strong outer core muscles
People with anxiety
Sedentary work/life style (poor posture can shorten the pelvic floor muscles)
Mouth/chest breathers
If you imagine your core and trunk muscles as a box, your pelvic floor is the base of your core with your transverse abdominus being the walls and your diaphragm muscle (breathing muscle) being the ceiling.
It is really important that all aspects of your core are working efficiently. If you are always breathing through your mouth, with a chest pattern of breathing the pelvic floor does not have a chance to relax.
Yes! However more focus should be on the strength of your muscles (not including your pelvic floor initially) therefore you should not actively contract your pelvic floor during initial pilates sessions.
As symptoms decrease, we start to add in a graded strengthening program for you pelvic floor
That's right, the fourth leading risk factor of global deaths is NOT moving enough. Sounds bizarre I know, but as a population, we have become well adapted to the conveniences of the modern world. Whether it's commuting, working, leisure time, home time etc. It is all based around more convenience and less movement, less labour, less physical activity and less exercise.
The World Health Organisation recommends that all healthy adults aged 18–64, without a specific medical reason not to, should participate in;
at least 150 minutes of moderate-intensity aerobic physical activity each week or;
at least 75 minutes of vigorous-intensity physical activity throughout the week or;
an equivalent combination of moderate- and vigorous-intensity activity, and;
muscle-strengthening activities which should be done involving major muscle groups on 2 or more days a week.
So while 150 minutes might sound like a lot of time across the week, it's not.
Simply, it's 30 minutes across 5-days. Throw in a couple of strength sessions and you have a recipe (with strong evidence) to:
Physical activity has been shown to increase brain size, improve memory and decrease dementia risk. In Australia between 2006 to 2015, dementia has moved from the fourth to the second leading cause of death.
Ischaemic heart disease, a condition that affects the supply of blood to the heart, has remained Australia's leading cause of death over the past decade.
Exercise and physical activity improves heart and lung function and decreases your cardiovascular disease risk.
In Australia in 2014-15, around one in twenty Australians reported having both an anxiety-related condition and a mood (affective) disorder, such as depression.
Physical activity and exercises has been shown to be effective in decreasing the risk of depression and helps improve mental wellbeing.
Physical activity and exercise helps increase bone mineral density, decreases the risk of osteoporosis and fracture and improves muscular strength and fitness.
The take home message is really just to move. Find ways in your day, things that you like and things that you will want to do to get the body moving.
If you like pilates, do pilates.
If you're more a yogi, do yoga.
If you like the gym, get to the gym.
If you're a hiker, a rock-climber, a surfer, a sprinter, tai-chi'er or a jiu jitsu practitioner - then do that!
Just make sure you're moving your body, it thrives on it. It allows your brain to light up it's synapses, to move or stabilise joints and use its strength to lift and carry things, to accomplish a difficult task or to simply have fun.
Over time, with some capacity building, some strength progressions, some time in the game, you will see the benefits.
Get moving!
Did you know? Australia has launched the FIND YOUR 30 campaign that encourages Australians to find their 30 minutes of physical activity each day to lead a healthier and happier life.
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