But how do I know if my pelvic floor is working properly?

By Sabrina Nieland, Pelvic Floor Physiotherapist

"In its function, the pelvic floor makes a closing and lifting forward movement, which means it narrows your anus, your vagina and then your urethra and then lifts itself into your pelvis.

For example, you can imagine closing a zip first over the anus, then the vagina and finally the urethra. You can check the tension by putting a finger on the outside of the perineum and feeling if the muscles around the perineum start to work and the perineum lifts a little inside you.

As the pelvic floor is mostly inside us, it is even more telling if you feel with a finger inside the vagina whether the muscles grip your finger and pull it up when you activate. Because that's what a functioning pelvic floor feels like."

Learn more:

• What is the pelvic floor anyway?
• If something was wrong with my pelvic floor, I would notice it, wouldn't I?
• I always have a feeling of downward pressure - is this uterine prolapse (falling of the womb)?
• I had a caesarean section, so I don't need to attend postnatal physiotherapy, do I?