For every woman, menopause is an inevitable hurdle in her life. Menopause is not a disease. But there is no shortage of attention.
MenopauseIt is a special stage of transition from reproductive to old age, due to the decline in estrogen levels, defects or degeneration of pelvic support structures, and relaxation of pelvic floor support tissues, so pelvic floor dysfunction is a very common problem in menopause, and symptoms include pelvic organ prolapse, urinary incontinence, pelvic pain, constipation, fecal incontinence, dryness, sexual dysfunction and so on.
If menopausal women experience pelvic floor dysfunction, exercise and lifestyle changes can be effective.
Four stages help to improve
Pelvic floor dysfunction
Learn to contract your pelvic floor muscles properly
The pelvic floor muscles are the muscle groups that seal the pelvic floor, and their location is shown below.
Contraction the pelvic floor muscles correctly, only the muscles around ** and **, and avoid abdominal breath-holding force, inner thigh force and hip clamping force during training.
Slow-twitch training: Continuously contract the pelvic floor muscles with 40%-60% force, hold each contraction for 3-10 seconds, and relax for 5-10 seconds. Start with 3 seconds of contraction at first, and gradually increase to 10 seconds after getting used to it;
Fast twitch training: rapid contraction of maximum strength, rapid relaxation of pelvic floor muscles, contraction for 1s, relaxation for 10-1.5s, continuous contraction-relaxation 5-10 times.
10-15 minutes each time, 2-3 times a day.
After becoming proficient, you can integrate pelvic floor muscle training into your life, such as when changing body positions, going up and down stairs, squatting, and lifting heavy objects.
Pelvic and abdominal coordination training
Under normal circumstances, when we sneeze, cough, jump and other actions to increase abdominal pressure, the pelvic floor muscles will first tighten, and then tighten the abdomen to increase abdominal pressure, but the pelvic floor muscles of people with pelvic floor dysfunction do not contract or contract slowly, unable to close the urethra, resulting in urine leakage.
Therefore, learning to tighten the pelvic floor muscles first to increase abdominal pressure can prevent the occurrence of urine leakage.
Method: Lie on your back and bend your knees, inhale and exhale, inhale and slowly expand your abdomen from top to bottom, and relax your pelvic floor muscles. As you exhale, tighten your pelvic floor muscles and then your abdomen from the bottom up. Continue to breathe and feel your pelvic floor muscles and abdomen relax and contract with each inhale and exhale.
Integrated training
Integration training is the coordinated training of pelvic floor muscles and trunk, chest, abdominal cavity, and buttock muscles.
Bridge pose: Lie on your back and bend your knees with your feet on the ground, exhale and step down your heels to the ground to tighten your abdomen and lift your hips, lumbar spine and thoracic spine up, keeping your knees, pelvis and spine in a straight line (those with low back pain can use the half-bridge pose, that is, the pelvis and lumbar spine can be raised), continue to contract the pelvic floor muscles for slow muscle training, hold for 5-10 seconds, rest for 10 seconds, and repeat for 5-10 groups. It can also be combined with hip ups and downs and rapid contraction of pelvic floor muscles to train fast-twitch muscles, that is, inhale the hips and lower the pelvic floor muscles to relax, exhale the hips to raise the pelvic floor muscles to contract, 6-8 times.
Side leg raise: lie on the left side and bend the left leg, straighten the right leg, keep the side waist strength, tighten the core, exhale and tighten the pelvic floor muscles, the right gluteal muscles exert force and the right leg is abducted upwards, inhale the pelvic floor muscles and relax the right leg down, repeat 8-10 times; Change your left leg and do the same Xi.
Prone leg raise: Prone position, tighten the core of the abdomen, straighten the legs and abduct and rotate, exhale and tighten the pelvic floor muscles, straighten the knees and lift the right leg up, inhale the pelvic floor muscles and relax the right leg, and repeat 8-10 times to change the left leg.
Half squat: Standing position, feet shoulder-width apart, toes facing forward, inhale and bend knees down into a half squat, hips back, exhale to tighten pelvic floor muscles back to a standing position, repeat 8-10 times.
Scene reflex training
Here are a few examples of pelvic floor muscle training modules that are commonly used.
1. Reflex when abdominal pressure increases: improve urinary leakage due to changes in body position when abdominal pressure increases suddenly, and learn to hold urine when urinary urgency is not allowed by the environment. Method: Contraction the pelvic floor muscles with maximum force, hold and relax slowly until completely relaxed.
2.Sexual reflex: improves sexual urine leakage when abdominal pressure increases. Method: Gradually increase the contraction of pelvic floor muscles in four levels, hold for 3 seconds at each level, and finally slowly relax the pelvic floor muscles.
3.Urinary control reflex: learn to hold urine in the presence of urgency or continuous coughing movements and the environment does not allow it. Methods: Slowly contract the pelvic floor muscles and hold for 2 seconds, then quickly contract for another 1 second, repeat 5 times to completely relax the pelvic floor muscles.
Practice the above reflexes Xi 10-15 minutes a day, with a 20-second break in between.
Doctor reminds
In daily life, it is also necessary to form a good life Xi habits to protect pelvic floor function and reduce behaviors that increase abdominal pressure, such as avoiding constipation, long-term weight bearing, active chronic cough, and appropriate for obese people to reduce the pressure on pelvic floor muscles.
Menopausal women should have pelvic floor screening at least once a year, with appropriate medications or physical ** if necessary. Menopausal women are advised to include pelvic floor muscle exercises in their daily exercise routine, even if they do not have symptoms of pelvic floor dysfunction. The pelvic floor muscles, like other muscles in the body, can only be exercised to make it generate strength and allow it to function normally, in order to effectively prevent various pelvic floor problems in middle and old age.
*: Dongguan Maternal and Child Health Hospital.