Let’s start here: if you’ve ever leaked when you laughed, felt pressure in your pelvis, or had pain with sex and thought, “this is just part of being a woman”, I want to gently challenge that.
It’s common. But it’s not something you have to live with.
Your pelvic floor is a group of muscles that supports your bladder, uterus, and rectum. It’s involved in everything from using the bathroom to sex to how your core stabilizes your body. And yet, for many Black and Brown women, pelvic health is rarely discussed until something feels very wrong.
Add in other issues like higher rates of fibroids, disparities in postpartum care, and less access to pelvic floor therapy, and it’s easy to see how many women end up navigating this alone.
What pelvic floor issues can look like:
Leaking urine when coughing, sneezing, or exercising
A feeling of heaviness or “something falling” in the pelvis
Pain with sex or inserting tampons
Constipation or incomplete bowel movements
Lower back, hip, or pelvic pain
You may not know this BUT your pelvic floor doesn’t have to just be weak, it can be tight or both! So when we say “do your Kegels,” that advice only works if weakness is the issue.
What if your muscles are tight or overactive? More Kegels can actually make symptoms worse.