By Annette Cashell
I remember experiencing sneeze pee for the first time a few weeks after I’d given birth to my second baby. Kegel exercises helped, to an extent, but I still made sure to empty my bladder before going to an exercise class, often went to the loo “just in case” and definitely steered clear of trampolines!
And I wasn’t the only one – I could see from my own Pilates classes many other women doing the same “just in case” habits. They also reported doing the Kegels years (even decades!) after childbirth without much improvement in symptoms.
It made me start to wonder… either most women were doing Kegels wrong and/or maybe there could be some other way to improve things “down there”?
So, I started to research and discovered the world of natural movement, which looks at how the body would move if it were in its natural environment and how many modern life habits, like excessive sitting, wreak havoc on our health.
I know you’ve probably heard the phrase “sitting is bad for you”. I now know it SHOULD read “excessive amounts of uninterrupted sitting, in the same position, is bad for you”.
Doesn’t exactly roll off the tongue, does it? But the devil is in the detail and detail is the only way to get true solutions. For women, this is even more important as excessive sitting makes traditional “women issues” like pelvic floor issues and bone loss worse. Who knew? I started drastically reducing my sitting time and haven’t had sneeze pee or back/neck pain since!
So, the #1 goal for all women, if they sit more than 4 hours a day, is to SIT LESS. But the devil is in the detail again and, we need to bust 3 Myths of Sitting vs.Standing:
Myth #1 – Standing is the solution. (End of).
If sitting is “bad” for you, then standing must be good for you, right? Yes, and no. There is nothing wrong with sitting as long as it’s not for long periods of time. So, breaking up your periods of sitting regularly is a very good idea. The goal is NOT to swap sitting all day with standing all day!
Myth #2 – ALL Sitting is EQUALLY bad for you
There is nothing wrong with sitting IF you break up your sitting bouts AND, change the WAY you sit regularly. Our bodies thrive on variety, even in sitting positions. Some better chair alternatives include: using a chair wedge, sitting on a yoga ball, sitting on the floor, not using the back rest.
Myth #3 – The solution costs lots of money
Standing desks are great, but they are expensive. You can use existing shelving or make your own version of a flexi-desk e.g. stand your laptop on top of some boxes on top of your desk so that the screen is eye level and use an external mouse on the desk.
Which of these myths could you start busting right away to start improving your pelvic floor health AND reducing back/neck pain for good? Let me know!
If you have pelvic floor/pain issues, my Holistic Movement Method can help! Book a FREE Clarity
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