Pelvic Floor Galore Class Review At East Village London’s Fix

*This is a collaborative post with East Village London* If you are expecting your 1st or subsequent baby or have recently given birth, you would have no doubt come across the term ‘Pelvic Floor’. It is an integral part of a woman’s body that should not be ignored but all too often is despite our pelvic floor being vital in maintaining a good posture and strong bladder. On Monday just gone, bump and I ventured into East London where we were invited to try out the newly launched Pelvic Floor Galore Class at East Village London Fix studio. Before I delve into what such a class offers including my thoughts on the session, I thought I would take this opportunity to enlighten you of the importance of maintaining this important and often overlooked area as well as looking at the common symptoms associated with dysfunctional pelvic floor.

Why Is Our Pelvic Floor So Important?

During pregnancy, our core and entire pelvic area come under tremendous strain when housing a baby for 9 months or more. With this in mind ladies it is in our very best interests to strengthen this area by performing various exercises and stretches that will ultimately lengthen and contract ones muscles so that your pelvic floor is working optimally resulting in greatly reducing embarrassing situations associated with a weak bladder.

Common Symptoms Associated With A Dysfunctional Pelvic Floor

As our pelvic floor muscles support the bladder, uterus and bowel, a weakened or dysfunctional pelvic floor can be identified by the following symptoms.

• Constipation or straining pain with each bowel movement
• A feeling that one cannot complete a bowel movement
• A frequent need to urinate
• Pain during or immediately after intercourse (women)
• Lower back pain
• Ongoing, dull aching pain or pressure in your pelvic region, genitals or rectum

My Experience Of A Weak Pelvic Floor

They say no two pregnancies are the same and these words could not be truer for me! I was extremely fortunate to have had a smooth pregnancy with minor heartburn during the last trimester when carrying my first born little Eco back in 2015 / 16 but is a different story completely with my current 2nd pregnancy. It has been blighted with what could only be described as excruciating lower back and butt cheek pain since the beginning of the 16th week, which much to my annoyance, has stopped me dead in my tracks with tears in my eyes.

After a concerned call to my my hospital’s antenatal department I was referred to the Women’s Physiotherapy Unit for further assessment and after undergoing a one to one consultation with the Head Therapist, she informed me that it wasn’t Pelvic Girdle Pain as I initially first thought after checking my symptoms on trusted Google but instead had a very weak gluetes and pelvic floor. I was given half a dozen pelvic friendly Yoga and Pilates exercises and stretches to complete in the comfort of my own home to help strengthen the targeted muscles which also released any muscle tightness around the hip joint area.

Examples of exercises and stretches I have been completing for the past 12 weeks include clams, forward lunges, adapted pigeon pose,

Pelvic Floor Galore Class Review At East Village London’s Fix Studio

After making the 1.5 hour journey into East London from the very depths of the West London suburbs I arrived at Fix London located on Penny Brooke Street (part of East Village London) with minutes to spare and was greeted by a smiley and ever friendly Sara (the hypnobirthing teacher) who checked me in a directed me to the intimate area where our class was being held.

Angela (our instructor for the session) welcomed me in before proceeding to start the class. I immediately felt comfortable and relaxed as there were only 3 other women in attendance, two locals with babies and the other, fellow parent and lifestyle blogger The London Mum and so mentally prepared myself to be worked for the next hour… not in the form of high intensity, sweat dripping workouts my pre baby days were used to but through low impact stretches and exercises I had been familiar in carrying out as part of my ongoing physio for lower back pain.

Each exercise we completed flowed really nicely and complemented each other. We all were strongly encouraged to engage our pelvic floor by taking deep breathes in and out with each repetition and found they really targeted my problem areas around my butt cheeks, hip joint and lower back.

After using a small ball we then proceeded to partner up using resistance bands to stretch out our chest, shoulders and back as demonstrated by ever lovely Donna and I below.

I particularly liked that the instructor was acutely aware of everyone’s limitations and gave me adapted exercises to complete on a fit ball whenever we had to lie on our backs for example. You will find the hour goes by super fast and are left feeling stretched out, less achey and full of energy. The studio’s big windows ensures lots of natural light is flooded into the space and the lovely plants doted around makes one feel at home.

It is safe to say I really enjoyed the class. It was well structured (extra brownie points for being baby friendly!!!) and our instructor Angela did a fantastic job at being aware and in tune with everyone’s limitations, making small adaptions here and there that still allows us to actively work the targeted area while engaging with the two small babies whenever they started to get a little agitated so the Mothers could continue and finish their repetitions.

Price of Pelvic Floor Galore Classes and Other Services Offered

The newly launched Pelvic Floor Galore classes at East Village London’s Fix studio are priced at a reasonable £12.00 for anyone wishing to try it out. The venue also offers state of the art services for those who want to stay active, healthy and injury free. It has an inter-referring team of physiotherapists, osteopaths, massage therapists, acupuncturists and exercise rehabilitation specialists providing a whole team solution for a range of problems. Fix has also recently expanded their range of antenatal and postnatal classes to include ‘Fearless Mother Hypnobirthing’, a four-week course held by Sara which will help prepare couples for the birth of their child. This is of great interest to me following my failed attempts to stay calm during when birthing my Son in water 26 months ago but will have to consider 1.5 hour journey there and back.

I hope this article has enlightened you about the importance of maintaining a good pelvic floor as well as shedding light on the symptoms that cause pelvic floor dysfunction.