The women’s health lesson I definitely didn’t get at Catholic school
WORDS BY RUBY FOX
There’s more to vaginal health than cranberry juice and unscented soaps.
I was doing my usual doomscroll the other day when, as happens every day, a video from women’s health physio Sarah Percy got me up to do my kegels. I never really thought about the real importance behind these exercises. The only thing on my mind was: when Sarah says squeeze, you squeeze. When Sarah says hold, no matter how long she tortures you, you hold.
But after a deep dive into her page and a scroll through the comments, I realised this is actually kind of a big deal. Women throughout her page took to the comments section, talking about how these exercises changed their lives or transformed their pregnancy journey. Meanwhile, I didn’t even know what the word ‘kegel’ meant.
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Everyone knows it’s important to pay attention to your vaginal health. From the soap you use to the material of your underwear, these things make an impact. But as we get older, it’s not just about the products we use or the habits we keep. It’s also about understanding the muscles we often forget are there.
Coming from a Catholic girls’ school, funnily enough, we never really learnt about this stuff. A quick lesson on pH levels and a stern word on premarital sex was about all I got in the vaginal education department. And it’s the same for many women. For a multitude of reasons, we’re just not getting enough education on the topic, especially when it comes to what’s going on inside.
What even are kegels?
After weeks of doing my ‘daily kegels’, I realised I actually had no idea what the term meant or why it was important. A quick Google search taught me that it’s a term used to describe exercises that strengthen your pelvic floor. From supporting your bladder, bowel and uterus to incontinence and sexual function, apparently doing your kegels is extremely important.
Sarah, my Instagram kegel coach and a pelvic floor specialist, is a total expert on the topic. During a university placement in the maternity and gynaecology wards of a local private hospital, she was exposed to all kinds of women’s health issues, from birth and incontinence to prolapse and endometriosis. It was here Sarah realised just how much women are never properly taught about their own bodies.
For her, it was the moment that changed everything. “The reality is we just don’t get taught enough about pelvic health.”
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Why is a strong pelvic floor important?
A weak pelvic floor can have you rushing to the toilet constantly to empty your bladder. You might not be able to empty it completely at all. It might leave you feeling ‘vaginally heavy’ or cause pain during sexual intercourse, constipation, or even serious back pain (you’d think this would come up in a high school health class).
According to Sarah, a strong pelvic floor is one of the most important steps to keeping your uterus, bladder, bowel and small intestine in good shape. Pelvic floor exercises can have a really positive impact on maintaining continence, “meaning you can control your urine, faeces and wind.”
Maintaining this strength can also improve your overall core strength and even reduce your risk of back pain.
Sarah also shared how beneficial these exercises are during pregnancy. “Optimising my pelvic floor muscles by contracting and relaxing them at different stages in my pregnancy, and after birth has helped me maintain my continence throughout both of my pregnancies and postnatal experiences.”
So, what now?
According to Sarah, one of the biggest downfalls women face is that they don’t take preventative measures until the problems are already there. “Just because you’re continent doesn’t mean you haven’t got any underlying tension going on” she warns.
One of Sarah’s main goals with her content is to empower women to seek help when it’s required and teach them that there’s never any harm in visiting a women’s health physio and just checking things out. The worst thing you can do is wait for a problem to come up, especially when there are so many simple habits you can form early to support, strengthen and better understand your pelvic floor.
Prevention doesn’t have to be dramatic. Sometimes it’s just learning how your body works before it starts asking for help.
In the meantime, Sarah suggests practising your kegels at least four to six times a week, and with her minute-long videos posted almost every day, there’s no reason everyone can’t fit a quick squeeze and hold in their day.
The more we learn about our bodies and seek out the help that’s offered to us, Sarah says, the more empowered and in control we become.
For more information on pelvic floor health, head here.
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