E59: Does High Intensity Exercise and Lifting Weights Set You Up for Pelvic Floor Issues? - a podcast by Dr. Melissa Cioffi, PT

You may have heard that high intensity/high impact exercise and heavy weight lifting lead to pelvic floor issues like prolapse, pain, and peeing yourself.⁣

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It ain't true.⁣

𝑾𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒈𝒊𝒗𝒆𝒔? Our bodies are super smart and love predictability. Once they pick up on a pattern that works, that's their go-to: even if it's not the most efficient way of doing things.⁣

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Let's take weight lifting for example. You're probably measuring your progress by how much weight you can put up (even if you're not a competitive body builder), right? In order to get that weight up there, if your deep core (abs, pelvic floor, lower back, and diaphragm) is not performing "optimally," you're probably gonna hold your breath to move that load. Over time, your body learns this pattern and further reduces the use of what SHOULD be kicking in (aka deep core). This compensatory pattern is what could potentially lead to pelvic floor issues, not the actual act of lifting weight.⁣

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𝐓𝐋;𝐃𝐑: 𝐈𝐭'𝐬 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐞𝐱𝐞𝐫𝐜𝐢𝐬𝐞 𝐢𝐭𝐬𝐞𝐥𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐜𝐚𝐮𝐬𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐢𝐬𝐬𝐮𝐞, 𝐢𝐭'𝐬 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐥𝐚𝐜𝐤 𝐨𝐟 𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐩𝐚𝐫𝐞𝐝𝐧𝐞𝐬𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐝𝐢𝐝.⁣

Take that one step further: even if you are currently suffering from pelvic floor issues, it does not mean that you have to stop doing the exercises you love forever. Pelvic floor dysfunction is not a life sentence.

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Whether you're trying to prevent pelvic floor issues in the first place or overcome issues you're experiencing now, we need to think of better investigative questions when thinking about how we are gonna get you back to living your damn life. Questions like:

• WHY is your pelvic floor/deep core performing the way it is?


• HOW is it compensating? 


• HOW does it coordinate with your other body parts in a variety of positions and activities?
  
  

Stop allowing people who have no education or background in exercise programming scare you out of exercise programming that gives you life.



You’re not broken or lost.



You just need a better road map.

And we are exploring how to get our hands on that map in today's episode!

Healthcare is a difficult territory for women to navigate, as many of us are left feeling dismissed and unheard, our concerns being chalked up to being a "crazy woman" who just needs to lose weight (BARF). That shit ends here and now. Today, we take back our health and speak up: because no one else is gonna do it for us.

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Send me an email: mcioffidpt@newquestpt.com

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**Information presented in this podcast is not to be taken as medical advice and is for educational and entertainment purposes only**

Theme music courtesy of Grace Mesa, “Like We Do”

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