Pelvic Floor Anatomy Up Close
Looking at the body’s pelvic floor anatomy, one cannot help but think that it’s a very complex system. Many of the experts that study this particular structure in the body agree that it is indeed- complex. To understand the pelvic floor anatomy, you first have to know what its functions are.
Functions of the Pelvic Floor
Particularly, the support of the pelvic floor anatomy organs is what it does. The pelvic floor anatomy is designed to hold the intestines, the bladder and also the uterus for females. It also helps with stabilizing connecting joints. Fecal and urinary continence is another function of the pelvic floor since it works with the anal and urinary sphincters. It assists with sexual performance and also takes the part of a venous and lymphatic pump in the pelvis.
For the females, the pelvic floor anatomy has more function as it helps facilitate childbirth. It resists the descent for the presenting part which causes the fetus to rotate forward as it navigates through the pelvic girdle.
Looking deeper into the pelvic floor, you’ll see that it is actually made up of three main muscle layers.
The Muscle Layers in the Pelvic Floor
- Superficial perineal layer
- Deep urogenital diaphragm layer
- Pelvic diaphragm
The first two muscles of the whole pelvic floor anatomy are innervated with the help of the pudendal nerve and as of the third major muscle layer, by the sacral nerve roots for the S3 through S5.
The superficial perineal layer of the pelvic floor anatomy is further made up of the:
- Bulbocavernosus
- Superficial transverse perineal
- Ischiocavernosus
- External anal sphincter or the EAS
The deep urogenital diaphragm layer is made up of the following:
- Compressor urethera
- Uretrovaginal sphincter
- Deep transverse perineal
As for the pelvic diaphragm, this is made up of the following:
- Piriformis
- Levator ani
- Coccygeus or the ischiococcygeus
- Obutrator internus
The Clinical Significance of the Pelvic Floor
Just as with the other systems and parts of the body, it’s important that you take care of yourself in terms of eating right and getting the right amount of exercises. You need to practice exercises that work on the pelvic floor anatomy because there are such things as disorders to the pelvis. There are also invasive forms of treatment like surgery that can affect your health, pelvic floor wise. For women, it would be the levator muscles that can get damaged when the woman is giving birth or some other medical procedures. Getting a hysterectomy for instance can greatly damage these muscles in the pelvic floor anatomy.
Exercises like cycling and equestrian sports can also contribute to the damage of the pelvic floor. Another way that the integrity of the pelvic floor anatomy can be damaged goes in line with surgery for the pelvis where coccygectomy is performed. Once damaged, you might be feeling symptoms like urinary incontinence. Worse, it could lead to the condition known as pelvic organ prolapsed. Here, the organs that the pelvic floor normally holds together would be protruding into the vagina.
There are also other factors that contribute to this condition. It doesn’t necessarily have to be trauma or invasive procedures on the pelvis structure. It can be genes, hormonal status and age. Luckily, there are treatments and ways to prevent this condition from happening so that you can keep a healthy and strong pelvic floor anatomy.
Avoiding and Getting through the Pelvic Organ Prolapse
To avoid having problems as bad as pelvic organ prolapsed, you can do Kegel exercises to maintain the strength of your pelvic floor anatomy. If it already happened to you and the exercises would not work, you can always look for options in line with surgery where the vagina will be suspended by attachments made to the perineum and the pelvic side wall. The sacrum will also be attached to these parts through the help of elastin, collage and smooth muscle.
The Deal with Kegel Exercises for Pelvic Floor Anatomy Integrity
Also known as pelvic floor anatomy exercises, adding this routine to your exercise regimen can help you keep the tone as well as the function of your pelvic floor muscles. For the most part, this will benefit women but it can also help men deal with problems like stress urinary incontinence. |
