10 Minute Tip #25: Barbell Training & Pelvic Floor Dysfunction in ALL Genders - YES! Men Too!
Pelvic floor dysfunction is extremely common in all genders but it is most definitely not normal! You should not ignore or allow pelvic floor symptoms to continue but you also don’t have to stop barbell training.
In this episode of the PRS Podcast, PRS Clinical Coach and pelvic health expert, Dr. Breanne Maruca, PT, PRSCC, CLT, WCS brings awareness to all the common abdominal and pelvic floor dysfunctions that men and women experience both inside and outside of barbell training.
She describes the following dysfunctions, what they mean, and how you might experience them:
Hernias
Diastasis Recti
Pelvic Pain
Urinary Incontinence
Fecal Incontinence
Prolapse
Erectile Dysfunction
Low Back & Hip Pain related to the pelvic floor
This episode brings awareness to these dysfunctions and helps you identify if you should see a pelvic health specialist for help. Remember, these are common pelvic health dysfunctions but certainly not normal. They should not be ignored and they should be addressed while modifying your program, technique, and equipment to continue to barbell train while addressing them.
Need help with your pelvic floor issue? Book a free consultation with PRS Clinical Coach Dr. Breanne HERE!
IF YOU’RE ENJOYING OUR PODCAST, PLEASE LEAVE US A REVIEW ON APPLE OR SPOTIFY.
Need help with an injury or programming? Book a free consultation call with one of the PRS Clinical Coaches here!
Interested in attending some of the free PRS community events and getting early access to PRS Podcast episodes? Sign up for our weekly newsletter here!
Join our Facebook Community for free form checks, live Q&As & more: https://www.facebook.com/groups/PRS.Barbell.Mastery
Got questions or guests you'd like to hear on the show? Submit them here: https://forms.gle/7Vu2HmgHoeQY9xM59
GET IN TOUCH WITH THE SHOW!
Email: podcast@progressiverehabandstrength.com
Rori IG: @rorimegan_prs
Alyssa IG: @alyssahope_prs
Dr. Rori Alter, PT, PRSCC, SSC: [00:00:00] All right. Welcome back to the Progressive Rehab & Strength podcast. I'm your host, Dr. Rori Alter head clinical coach here at Progressive Rehab & Strength, with my lovely co-host for this unit on the Progressive Rehab & Strength podcast, Dr. Brianne Maruca. She's a clinical coach here at Progressive Rehab & Strength who specializes in pelvic health. So we did an episode previously, so our last Saturday episode on Functional Anatomy of the Core and the Pelvic floor. So if you have not listened to that episode, it is an eye-opener for so many people because we are so unaware of our insides. What you don't see, you don't care about. So please go listen to the Functional Anatomy episode with Bree from last Saturday. But this is Bree's first ten-minute tip. We actually did a ten-minute tip. We recorded it in advance on the Kegel, and it not.
Dr. Breanne Maruca, PT, PRSCC, CLT, WCS: [00:00:55] Ten minutes decided.
Dr. Rori Alter, PT, PRSCC, SSC: [00:00:56] To not do a ten minute tip with that one. I didn't even set the timer because the kegel needed more than ten minutes. So that should be coming out next Tuesday relative to this episode. And by all means, please go block out 40 minutes to listen to this one because that is a really awesome episode as well. But in this ten-minute tip, this is going to be Bre's first time under pressure. On the clock here is ten minutes. If you aren't aware of what our ten minute tips are, we introduce the topic and then we set a timer and talk about it for ten minutes. And when that ten minutes is up, sometimes we keep talking, but sometimes we stop. We never know. We try and keep them to ten minutes. So this episode is all about pelvic and abdominal issues that affect people both inside and outside of training. Just things that people. The general population experiences and thinks it's kind of normal or is unaware that there is something more out there that can help you. So and Bre's favorite saying, and my favorite saying, one of my favorite sayings is everything just because it's.
Dr. Breanne Maruca, PT, PRSCC, CLT, WCS: [00:02:05] Just because something is common.
Dr. Rori Alter, PT, PRSCC, SSC: [00:02:08] Common. There you go. It doesn't mean that it's normal. I was going to say common. Typical. Normal. Like just because something is common, you know, like people experience urinary incontinence or people have C-sections and then have back pain and, you know, it's pain with intercourse just doesn't mean that it's normal. So we're going to talk about all these pelvic issues, pelvic and abdominal issues that people experience, whether or not it's inside of training, because we think that pelvic issues should be. There needs to be more awareness of them and that pelvic health physical therapy can help you. So.
Dr. Breanne Maruca, PT, PRSCC, CLT, WCS: [00:02:50] Yeah, and programming too. And appropriate training like that doesn't mean you have to stop because I cannot tell you how many times women say I was told I can't, shouldn't, couldn't like lift or valsalva or this or that. And it's like, that's the best thing you can be doing for this system to help. Yeah. And help not even. Yeah, to help manage, but also to help prevent exacerbation or worsening or problems in the future. So.
Dr. Rori Alter, PT, PRSCC, SSC: [00:03:21] Yeah. So and also just to make this very, very bold and important statement is that pelvic floor issues do not just affect women. You know, we tend to think that urinary incontinence is a dysfunction of the female, but it's not. Men have it. But if you go back to our functional anatomy, when we talk about the pelvic floor and how many holes men versus women have, there are more holes in the system for females. Yeah, I mean, it's true, though. I mean, which makes it a little bit, you know, a little bit weaker. You know, the more openings you have the, the less.
Dr. Breanne Maruca, PT, PRSCC, CLT, WCS: [00:04:00] Vulnerable, maybe.
Dr. Rori Alter, PT, PRSCC, SSC: [00:04:01] The more vulnerable something is. And also just, we didn't talk about the structure of the urethra for men versus women and how gravity affects urination for men and women. And then also men don't have babies. Women do.
Dr. Breanne Maruca, PT, PRSCC, CLT, WCS: [00:04:17] And their pelvis, the structure of their pelvis is so much smaller. So it is just more narrow. I don't want to say so much smaller, but the structure, their structures, are different. Yeah. Which tends to make their system just more optimal in a different way, but right.
Dr. Rori Alter, PT, PRSCC, SSC: [00:04:31] So that's why we tend to see that pelvic floor issues affect women more than men, but that does not mean men don't experience pelvic floor dysfunction. So what we're going to do in this ten-minute tip is talk about. All of the most common abdominal and pelvic floor issues that you might experience inside or outside of training. And that training, just because you have these things, does not mean that you can't train in general. We can always keep you training by just managing training a little bit better and addressing the issues in any way that they need to be addressed. So with that all said, I'm going to start the clock. Bre. Let's let's start.