How’s Your Pelvic Floor?

Hi there! I took a little time off around the holidays. I hope everyone enjoyed theirs! I bet some of you have even set up some new year resolutions to help motivate you to put a healthy lifestyle at the forefront of 2018. Maybe you’ve decided to start practicing some self-love by journaling or meditating, or have an urge to run a 5 or 10k while also regaining some strength and flexibility. I couldn’t agree more that bettering your mind and body is of utmost importance, but I bet a majority of you don’t think about the full concept of your “whole” body. So I want to ask…how’s your pelvic floor?

Are you experiencing urinary leakage? Bowel problems? Pain with sexual intercourse? Maybe you just assumed this was a normal part of going through post-partum or simply due to aging. Well, my friend, it’s not. And guess what…athletes are at an increased risk of pelvic floor dysfunction due to higher impact forces placed on them. Whether you’re a trained athlete or not, pelvic floor dysfunction is commonly under-diagnosed or misdiagnosed, therefore leaving you thinking you just have to suffer and put up with it. I’m here to tell you, that’s not the case and oftentimes can be treated conservatively!!

First most, as a physical therapist who formally worked at Marathon Physical Therapy and Sports Medicine in Massachusetts with some of the finest women’s health therapists in the state, I highly recommend seeing a specialized PT to correctly determine your individual dysfunction and therapy regime. Some issues can be more complex and require a professional team of doctors, therapists, and psychologists. Therefore, it’s always best to consult with specialized professionals before beginning any new routine.

Secondly, for adult women suffering from involuntary loss of urine while either coughing, laughing, sneezing or exercising (aka stress incontinence) or those of us who also suffer from symptoms of urgency or frequency, there is a device that can help within the comfort of your own home.

InControl Medical has reached out to me, as a physical therapist and athlete, to use and provide an unbiased review of their product ApexM. ApexM is a hand-held powered muscle stimulator to help assist pelvic floor strengthening, along with an exercise program from their app. The patented muscle stimulation delivers a rhythmic contraction to your pelvic floor muscles and at the same time provides resistance to help simultaneously activate and strengthen your pelvic floor.

ApexM is simple to use because it is accompanied with an app for your smartphone that provides step-by-step, easy to understand the terminology and, additionally, a professional and all-women run customer support team. The design of the product is comfortable and requires a suggested use of 5-10 minutes a day for 2-4 weeks, with each session slightly increasing the stimulation as your pelvic floor strengthens. Once symptoms reduce the product can used just 1-2 weekly for maintenance. The best part?! No prescription needed. I’m amazed at the ease and efficiency of this product.

This topic does not have to be embarrassing or taboo. I’m proud to work on keeping my entire body healthy and hope to do that for as long as I can, and if I can use a product like ApexM to help simplify the process, I’m all for it! Conveniently enough, they are having a sale of $125 off with the code: Cure125

Please go to ApexM website to learn if this device is the right fit for you as it is not intended for everyone.