Exercises To Strengthen Your Pelvic Floor With Power Plate

Pelvic floor health is increasingly important as we age and affects both men and women. We were recently asked how Power Plate can influence the pelvic floor. Pelvic floor issues can present itself in many different ways, such as urinary incontinence or pelvic organ prolapse.

Power Plate Master Educator, Scott Hopson, recently put together a series on pelvic floor health. Scott describes the pelvic floor as part of the pelvic girdle, which provides support and helps to keep everything lifted. This series includes exercises and stretches to help open up the pelvis. 

This study concluded that whole body vibration is an effective way to strengthen pelvic floor muscles. This study focused on the elderly population who often suffer from urinary incontinence. Whole body vibration training was presented as an intervention to improve pelvic floor muscle strength. The whole body vibration training group did their 4 week protocol on Power Plate. It was determined that whole body vibration training may be an effective approach in managing urinary incontinence.

Power Plate’s Executive Vice President of Business Development, Zak Lerner, says, “A great deal of research has been done on WBV and its ability to improve neuromuscular strength in the upper and lower body. Far less research has been done on how WBV may improve specialized muscle groups, such as those located in the abdomen, commonly referred to as the pelvic floor. Dysfunction of these muscles, which are central to the body's urological functions, can lead to stress urinary incontinence (SUI), a widespread and chronic condition that has significant impacts on overall quality of life. To assess the impact of WBV on those with SUI, Power Plate was utilized in a 4-week protocol and the results were compared to those engaging in only conventional pelvic conditioning exercises (such as kegels). The analysis demonstrated improvements in symptoms, pelvic muscular strength, and overall quality of life measures in the WBV group that were similar to those resulting from conventional pelvic conditioning exercises. These results suggest that WBV can be an effective novel therapy to strengthen specialized muscle groups such as the pelvic floor and that these improvements can lead to effective symptom relief. In totality, the importance of this study is that it demonstrates that WBV is a well-tolerated and effective novel therapeutic modality for those with SUI caused by pelvic floor muscle dysfunction. Further, the findings suggest that WBV could be used to accelerate improvements and symptom relief when used in conjunction with traditionally prescribed pelvic conditioning exercises.”

To learn more about the science behind Power Plate, click here.