Читать книгу Need to Know Fertility, Conception and Pregnancy - Harriet Sharkey - Страница 104

The pelvic floor is a sheet of muscle and fibrous tissue lying across the bottom of the pelvis. It supports the pelvic organs, including the bladder, part of the bowel and the womb, while the vagina, bowel and urethra (the tube that takes urine from the bladder to the outside) pass through it. The pelvic floor therefore helps you keep control of your bladder and bowel function. When you want to stop passing urine mid-stream, it is the pelvic floor muscles that you contract to do so.

These muscles can be stretched and damaged by the stress of pregnancy and delivery, which can lead to problems such as stress incontinence, where increased pressure on the pelvic floor, such as with coughing, leads to a small leak of urine from the bladder. It thus makes sense to strengthen the pelvic floor before and during pregnancy to minimize the risk of problems later on. Pelvic floor exercises are designed to do this and should be performed both during and after pregnancy.