A comedian turned pelvic floor physiotherapist has launched the #drybeforechristmas campaign in an effort to help women suffering stress incontinence stop embarrassing leaks and improve their orgasms.
Elaine Miller, a comedian who turned her day-job into the award-winning comedy series Gusset Grippers, stated that while official statistics suggest that one in three women has a weak pelvic, the true number is likely to exceed this.
According to research, the average time it takes for women to seek professional help before they reach this point is seven years.
A comedian turned pelvic floor physiotherapist has launched the #drybeforechristmas campaign in an effort to help women with stress incontinence stop embarrassing leaks and improve their orgasms. Stock images
However, the self-styled ‘f**** physio’ says the good news is that, for most women who have stress incontinence, it’s possible to fix it in just 12 weeks without even seeing a GP.
Appearing on Steph’s Packed Lunch on Monday, Miller explained the impact stress incontinence can have, saying: ‘If a women isn’t confident she can control her bladder, it interferes with every single thing she wants to do.
“Although statistics say it’s one third of women, it’s probably more widespread than that.”
She explained that the pelvicfloor is a ‘hybrid of muscles underneath your pelvis, and their job is stop your stomach falling out. Simply put, the muscles support organs above them.
Miller also shared some techniques that can be used to help women, including ‘clench a-long’ which involves clenching your muscles while listening to pop songs like Take That’s The Flood.
Although it is often thought that this condition affects only the elderly and young women, as high as 30% of young females and 40% of women in their twenties have urinary problems.
Risk factors include childbirth, the menopause, obesity, and childbirth. Giving birth can damage the pelvic floor muscles. In addition, falling levels of hormone oestrogen during menopause cause them to weaken. Additionally, extra weight puts strain upon the bladder.
Research published in the journal PLoS One last year found that sitting for too long can increase your risk of developing cancer.
Miller, pictured this week on Steph’s Lunch, said that just six sessions in physiotherapy could cure stress incontinence by 83 percent
Lifestyle changes such as weight loss can help reduce pressure on the bladder. However, pelvic floor exercises are the best treatment.
Miller said that pelvic floor exercises were very important. Evidence shows that women with stress incontinence who do pelvic floor exercises three times per day for three months will dry out. Up to three quarters of women will also get dry if they do them three times per day.
She also stated that only six sessions physiotherapy had an 83% cure rate, adding that “women don’t have to put up with it.”
Miller claims she uses comedy to get people talking on an issue that many consider embarrassing.
Gusset Grips was a comedy she wrote based on the evidence-based information that she would give in a clinic for physiotherapy. It was named the Fringe World Winner in Edinburgh’s comedy festival in 2020.
ELAINE MILLER TECHNIQUES TO BEAT STESS INCONTINENCE
TEN QUICK FLICKS. PRETEND THAT YOU’RE HOLDING IN WINDS, AND THEN RELEASE
Miller suggests that you can imagine yourself holding in wind and timing your breathing to improve muscle strength. Relax by squeezing in as though you are trying to hold on to wind. This can be done ten times, ten quick flicks, and three times daily for the best results.
SQUEEZE and LIFT for TEN
The other major exercise is to hold for ten. Take a deep inhale, and then exhale. Then hold the position for ten seconds and breathe. If you are unable to hold for ten seconds at first, you can just keep going for as long as possible.
SING SONGS to REMIND YOU TO DO EXERCISES
According to the women’s health physio, there are several songs that can be used to remind women to continue doing the exercises, such as ‘Ten ten three, we won’t wee a ten ten three’, which refers to the above two exercises.
You can also remember other useful phrases, even if your muscles get stronger: “Three a days til your dry,” then “once a daily til death.”
PLATFORM SHOES – GET MORE INTENSE ORGASMS
Miller stated that recent evidence suggests platform shoes can improve your pelvic floors because the same nerve that supplies your pelvic muscles supplies your feet with energy, the muscles in your foot, Miller said.
There is also an upside to sexual enhancement. Scientists believe a stronger pelvic area can increase blood flow and help you reach a more intense climax. Within a few weeks, you can feel the effects.
CLENCH A-LONG TO YOUR FAVOURITE SONGGS
The pelvic floor muscle can be strengthened by clenching to the beat of your favorite songs. Miller recommends Take That’s The Flood as a good starting point. With Emili Sandé’s Lifted also hoping to encourage people to remember to ‘squeeze and lift’.
Shakira’s “Whenever, Wherever” is great for reminding that you can improve your pelvic floor at any moment.
LUNGES, YOGA, AND BALL EXERCISES
A standard lunge at the gym doubles up to be a pelvic floor improver. Miller says, “Take a deep inhale, exhale, and then squeeze underneath. Then, lunge.”
Yoga classes can be strengthened by adapting the happy yoga resting position – where the hands and knees of the baby lie on the ground with the hips pulled back.
If you have access to a large inflatable gym or birthing ball, then simply rocking from side to side and forwards and back has a similar effect on helping to boost flagging muscles.
Visit gussetgrippers.co.uk for more information about Elaine Miller’s show.
Two-inch heels can lift a woman’s love life.
Pat Hagan
Wearing shoes with heels at this height could be the secret to boosting a woman’s love life, a study shows – as such footwear stimulates muscles that help a woman to orgasm.
You can still enjoy the same benefits by wearing a pair of heels or flat shoes.
Scientists came up with the findings after analysing different shoe heights to see which had the most impact on women’s pelvic floor muscles.
These muscles control the sexual function and bladder.
A stronger pelvic floor will increase blood flow during sex, and increase your chances of reaching the heights.
Wearing shoes with heels at this height could be the secret to boosting a woman’s love life, a study shows – as such footwear stimulates muscles that help a woman to orgasm
Researchers, from Shanghai’s Fudan University, quizzed 1,263 women on what kind of shoes they wore – from heels of under one inch to more than three inches.
They discovered that two-inch heels work best because, when a woman is standing in them, they tilt her pelvis just enough to make its muscles repeatedly contract – keeping them in good shape.
Wearing them for at most eight hours per day had the greatest effect.
The study showed that shoes with very high heels or no heels did not stimulate the same muscles.
The NHS website already recommends daily pelvic floor exercises for women who struggle to orgasm during sex – believed to affect around one in five women in the UK.
And the benefits don’t only end there as two-inch heels were also found to reduce the risk of urinary issues and embarrassing bladder leaks.
In a report on the results, published in the journal Translational Andrology and Urology, researchers said: ‘Problems with pelvic floor muscles can lead to sexual dysfunction, as well as incontinence and pain.
‘But our results showed two-inch heels might help women to train these muscles.’
Many young women prefer wearing heels to make them look ‘taller and more fashionable’.
Researchers warned that heels can cause falls and other musculoskeletal problems.