What causes symptoms of pelvic dysfunction?

Scar Tissue adhesion in your pelvic fascia. 

Let’s unpack that.

Scar Tissue is a thick tissue that replaces normal tissue that has been damaged.  These scar tissues create dead zones as they do not have natural tissue characteristics such as sweat glands or nerve endings. 

Scar Tissue can occur due to trauma, injury, surgery or events such as childbirth, hormonal changes due to menopause or similar. 

Adhesions happen when scar tissue connects adjacent tissues or organs potentially causing pain or organ dysfunction.  

So scar tissue adhesions create functional problems as they create more weight in your pelvic floor, specifically the fascia. 

Fascia is the largest organ in your body that you have never heard of. It runs from head to toe and is a network of connective tissue that holds all your organs, muscles and ligaments together. 

The fascia makes it possible for us to do activities like dancing, swimming, bending and more. If we were just made of bones and muscles, they would be hitting against each other when we did such activities, making it very painful. Thank you fascia. 

Your pelvic fascia has this job within your pelvis and pelvic floor.

So this extra weight creates a pull in your pelvic floor leading to symptoms of dysfunction. 

While research is still in its infancy, early results show a high degree of  correlation between women with pelvic floor dysfunction and scar tissue adhesion.

The myth about the weak pelvic floor

Studies estimate that 25-56% of all women with pelvic floor dysfunction have a hypertonic pelvic floor which is a significant number. 

A hypertonic pelvic floor is an overly tense pelvic floor that cannot relax or contract.

Scar tissue can contribute to tension and trigger points in the pelvic floor leading to a hypertonic pelvic floor. 

However, a large contributor to hypertonic pelvic floor are environmental factors such as chronic stress, poor posture, muscle imbalances and even poor breathing patterns. 

These factors play a key role in development of pelvic symptoms over the years with a major event like childbirth, menopause or hormonal changes triggering the worsening of the condition drastically. 

An important point to note is that a hypertonic pelvic floor is a weak pelvic floor yet does not require strengthening. On the contrary, it requires relaxation. 

Imagine having flexed biceps that cannot contract or relax. Now by adding more Kegels or strength exercises, you are worsening the problem.

So strengthening your pelvic floor alone will not get the job done. For many, it might make symptoms worse.