HEALTH Let's Talk About Your Pelvic Floor! Again!

It supports vital organs, it stabilizes your core-and it's often misunderstood. We're giving this critical muscle group the explainer it deserves.

- RORY EVANS

WHEN YOU READ the words "pelvic floor," what immediately comes to mind? Dollars to doughnuts, you're thinking of Kegels. We get it. The mysterious muscle group at the base of your private parts tends to emerge now and then as the Big Topic book clubs, brunchers, and health gurus like to talk about. More often than not, the conversation becomes an unofficial lesson in squeezing your insides. While Kegels can help (sometimes), there's so much more to know about pelvic floor health. And we really should learn: According to a study in the journal Obstetrics & Gynecology, a quarter of women ages 20 and over experience some disorder of the pelvic floor, which can cause a leaky bladder, frequent urination, difficulty with bowel movements, pain, and other symptoms that can profoundly affect quality of life. (By the way, men also have a pelvic floor, and according to a 2016 study, 16 percent have had a pelvic-floor-related disorder, which can lead to incontinence, problems with urinary frequency, stool leakage, and sexual dysfunction.)

Let's start at the start: The pelvic floor is a hammocklike structure of muscles and tissues at the base of the pelvis, stretching from the pubic bone to the tailbone and surrounding the openings of the urethra, vagina, and anus. "It not only supports pelvic organs but helps with function in terms of urinary continence and control," says Leslie M. Rickey, MD, MPH, a urogynecologist and associate professor of urology and obstetrics, gynecology, and reproductive sciences at Yale School of Medicine. These muscles also form the base of your core, working with your diaphragm, ab, and back muscles to aid in stability and balance. In short, the pelvic floor is essential to "your body's overall function, your comfort, and your confidence," says Meagan Peeters-Gebler, a doctor of physical therapy and the owner of Connected Core, a physical therapy practice in Appleton, Wisconsin.