How To Use Balance Boards for Pelvic Floor Strength

For starters, the pelvic floor is the bundle of muscles at the bottom of your pelvis that keeps your organs in place. Having a relaxed pelvic floor is key to being able to go to the bathroom, and having a resilient pelvic floor is important to prevent incontinence. The pelvic floor plays a major role in posture and stability.

“The pelvic floor is literally the foundation of our core,” says physical therapist Kelly Sadaukas, DPT, OCS. distortion of the pelvis, previously told Well+Good. The pelvic floor stabilizes the pelvis and stabilizes and aligns the hips and spine. Abnormalities in the pelvic floor can indicate abnormalities throughout the body. “When you’re climbing stairs, lifting weights, jumping, or trying to move a heavy box, if your pelvic floor isn’t working well, you’ll lean to one side, or your stride will be uneven when running. There are compensatory patterns that become uniform, and we observe uneven wear patterns in shoes and socks.”

Unfortunately, stress and prolonged periods of inactivity can affect pelvic floor health, and experts have seen an increase in pelvic floor-related problems in recent years. , optimizing your work environment is key to pelvic floor health. But it’s a surprising tool that can actually work your pelvic floor and all the muscles that support it, beyond just doing Kegels: the balance board.

Challenge your balance, whether it’s a boss ball, a platform of cylinders and springs, or a balance board. They engage small stabilizing muscles like the erector spinae (which surround the spine) and other deep muscles like those in the pelvic floor to keep the body upright even when the ground below is unstable. Therefore, using a balance board works both your pelvic floor and the entire core system of which it is a part.

“When you’re on the board, your body is forced to stay centered because you’re focused on this spring fulcrum,” says the personal trainer. Mike Currythe creator of strongboardA balance board with four springs sandwiched between two boards. “So we are working on deeper and more complex stabilizing muscles that are often ignored in traditional exercises that isolate specific muscle groups.”

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Building stabilizer muscles sounds like an abstract concept, but the moment you step onto the board, you know Curry is talking. It’s a constant challenge because it feels like your whole body is paying attention in a different way than when you don’t try to prevent the wobble.

“The brain and muscles are trying to figure out why they’re not stable,” Curry says. “Your brain is constantly sending messages to your muscles when you’re walking or doing something. When you get here, they start sending messages, but they’re not working, so you’re rapidly I’m trying to figure out what’s causing it, but the more I do it, the more muscles I start to recruit.”

All balance boards have this effect, but Curry says the Springs on the StrongBoard are a bigger challenge because the springs are always trying to return to an upright position and are fighting the weight that’s exposed on the board. It is said that it will be Or

Curry recommends very basic exercises that challenge your balance to strengthen your pelvic floor while using the StrongBoard. Because the device “strengthens your core to get more out of your movement and forces those deep, complex stabilizing muscles to stay contracted.” Suggested exercises include:

1. Squat with both feet on the board. You can slowly move up and down with a squat, or test your strength and balance with a long squat hold.
2. Perform a hip thrust with your feet on the board and your shoulders on the ground.
3. A plank with your arms on the board and your feet on the ground. Try to confuse it with slow climbers.
4. Lunge with your front foot on the board and your back foot on the ground.

These exercises are known to work the hamstrings, quadriceps, glutes, and core, but with the added challenge of stabilizing, “the pelvic floor muscles cannot relax. says Curry.