Postpartum pelvic floor struggles are a hot topic. With celebrities as high profile as Whoopi Goldberg and Kate Winsletopening up about their experiences with adult incontinence, the subject is being more widely discussed than it ever has been. Speaking on BBC1's The Graham Norton Show last year, Kate said 'I can't jump on trampolines anymore; I wet myself.' 'It's bloody awful, especially if you're wearing a skirt,' Kate continued, 'when you've had a few children, you know, it's just what happens.'
Whoopi got vocal about her struggle with LBL - light bladder leakage - when she teamed up with Poise to launch a series called 1 In 3 Like Me in an effort to break down the stigma surrounding LBL.
With incontinence affecting roughly twice as many women thanmen - 10% of UK women, compared to 5-6% of men in the UK, it's worrying that only one in five women claim to seek help for LBL, especially when there are so many valuable resources at hand. Whether you're keen to try out pelvic floor-focused Pilates exercises - find four easy moves to try at home here - or you're happy to devote ten minutes a day to a simple method that's doable desk-side (see below) there's a pelvic-floor-strengthening routine out there for you.
The Easy Pelvic Floor Exercise Routine To Try At Home
Factor in ten minutes of pelvic floor exercises a day,' says Dr Vivian Paraskevi Dimitriadi, cosmetic gynaecologist at Centre for Surgery, 'and you could see noticeable results in just twelve weeks.' Follow Dr Paraskevi Dimitriadi's simple steps below:
Try The Postpartum Pelvic Floor Exercise Programme Reportedly Favoured By Kate Middleton
Many new mothers extol the virtues of a 12-week online pelvic floor training programme called the MUTU System. According to the brand's literature, more than 90,000 women have embarked on the online programme since 2009, and a post on the MUTU System's Facebook page dated 3rd November 2018 reads: 'That feeling when Kate Middleton is reported to like MUTU System! Does this mean we can add "approved by Royalty" after our name?'. The post links out to a Daily Mail article written by Tanith Carey who says, 'Kate is said to like the MUTU System - a 12-week online programme of post-natal exercise to strengthen her pelvic floor.'
Of course we'll never really know whether Kate was logging on to the MUTU System in the months after giving birth to each of her three children, but the coverage and loyal following that the programme has garnered in recent years is impressive nonetheless. The brand even works closely with the NHS - specialist women's health physiotherapists, GPs, surgeons and midwives all routinely refer patients to MUTU in the postnatal period and afterwards. Keen to know more? You can sample the MUTU System with a ten day free trial here. If you get hooked, you can subscribe for 12 months access at £99 a year, or sign up for monthly payments - £21 a month.