SportOno, the unit at Ono Academic College which engages in Sports Programming has released a new podcast addressing pelvic floor care, a topic that until recently appealed mainly to women who suffer from pelvic floor muscle weakness especially after childbirth, but has recently also developed as a treatment for men. Harvard University Online Magazine published an article on the subject in 2018.
According to Dr. Eman Elkadry of Harvard Medical School, increasing awareness about the subject in recent years has led more caregivers to realize that muscular and nerve problems in the groin and lower abdomen may result from deep muscles in the pelvic floor.
The pelvic floor is actually a collection of muscles in the shape of a bowl whose function is to support the bladder and other organs of the genitals and lower abdomen. These muscles, like any other muscle in the body, can contract sharply and cause pain and dysfunction. In the past, this muscle group was not considered important as a cause of pain, but a recent study published in the 2012 Journal of Obstetric, Gynecological and Neonatal Nursing showed that between 14 and 23 percent of pelvic pain in women is due to chronic pelvic floor muscle pain.
Although much progress has been made on the subject of pelvic floor care, to this day there is embarrassment on the part of caregivers and patients about the issue. This leads sometime to improper care. So what is pelvic floor physiotherapy and what does it involve? The goal of pelvic floor treatment is to solve muscular pain problems in the area as well as sexual dysfunction, and symptoms of urinary incontinence. During the treatment, the therapist performs manual, external or internal manipulation of the pelvic floor muscles. With this technique they try to cause relaxation to contracted muscles and thus reduce pain, in the same way as in any other muscle in the body.
Indeed the treatment sounds a bit unusual, but according to Dr. Elkadry most women respond very well to treatments and the success rates are high. It is true that the treatment is not suitable for everyone, but if there is cooperation, the treatment can solve serious problems that have not been treated for years and greatly improve quality life. It is important to note for those who do not feel comfortable with the idea of this therapy that the treatment does not have to be internal. External treatment of the pelvic floor also encourages the action of weaker muscles in order to strengthen the area and in many cases greatly relieves the symptoms.
The full podcast can be heard at https://sport.ono.ac.il/Archive/17472
Ono Academic College offers a number of sports-oriented degrees including:
- Bachelor of Sports Therapy
- Bachelor of Education and Social Studies with a specialization in Sports
- Masters in Business Administration with training in Sports Management
Other sports and exercise-oriented podcasts can be found at the SportOno website https://sport.ono.ac.il/
