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I had a scan that educated me on the state of my abdominals and pelvic floor muscles!!
I’d booked myself in for an ultra-pilates scan on my abdominal muscles, I did have a fear of what the results would show!! Sounds crazy I know, especially when the ultra-lates scan is to help you know where you’re at and how you can make things better.
It was absolutely fascinating, during the scan the Physiotherapist explained exactly what you could see on the screen and what was happening. So on the ultrasound I could see my deep abdominals at rest, the transversus abdominus, these are your main core stability muscles, I was then cued to work those muscles, and I did what I have practiced daily since discovering Pilates and activated the muscle, it was so interesting actually seeing it on the screen both widen and thicken, yet in ‘real life’, you instantly look slimmer when you engage these muscles and they support you and your back, more about that another time.
Then it was time to hold the contraction of the muscles and my stamina was really good, so hooray there was positive feedback so that was a relief!!! I practice Pilates daily mainly for my back and basically can’t live without it, it keeps me together and prevents sciatica as much as possible.
Then it was onto having a look at my six pack muscle, the rectus abdominus, I discovered that it hadn’t knitted back together as much as I’d thought it had after childbirth 14 years ago, which then gave me the information from the physio that me wanting to keep my head down on certain abdominal exercises is better for me, and there is still hope to reduce the division of the muscles back to an even healthier state, not that they are in the ‘diasti recti’ state, whereby there is more than 2 finger widths of a gap in the muscle which can cause all sorts of problems. So I’m now extremely glad I had the scan to find this out, so I’m working away on my daily practice and weekly lesson so reduce this. A lot of people after childbirth don’t get much proper support unless there are really big issues going on, yet everyone wants to properly heal and have abdominals that you’re both happy with and are supporting both your and your body and back.
And then it was onto the pelvic floor muscles. During the scan, you just have to have the equipment gently resting on your tummy and low tummy to check the pelvic floor, you know exactly whats happening. It was so interesting seeing the pelvic floor muscles on the screen, my pelvic floor muscles were working well, however I discovered that they weren’t holding stamina wise for very long and that I needed to work on improving this, I had started to address this recently, and since the scan it’s now much improved which I’m really pleased about, it prompted me into action to practice the pelvic floor exercises not just daily, but thinking about doing them both regularly and breakfast, lunch & tea times ish and during some of my Pilates. What can be a worrying thing I heard is that some people think they’re doing it right but actually end up with a prolpase because they’re pushing the wrong way.
It’s something I wish I’d had after the post natal checkup because it would have allowed me to ease into exercise much more gently. I had the knowledge at the time yes, but I’d been critically ill in intensive care after a pre eclamptic fit after childbirth and I didn’t find the check up afterwards very helpful or informative at all. This would have helped
So I’m glad there are more things out there. The other thing thats so interesting in the scan is to see how well you’re engaging the muscles during your Pilates exercises, now this is interesting stuff, both personally to see how well you’re doing, specifically what level you’re working at and should or shouldn’t be working at.
I’m so pleased I went, It’s an eye opener. The scan doesn’t lie!! It’s there to help you with your health, wellbeing, fitness so can only be a good thing. Enabling you to work at a careful level that’s exactly right for you, specialist physios can work with you when theres more going on and you need more help one to one with more re-habilitation, bringing in the right Pilates exercises and avoiding the ones that don’t help.
My conclusion. Fascinating, a must do self care thing for everyone. We all want a fitter, more toned body. Yes Pilates does do that but doing it at the right level and pace is crucial for the best results and this is a much more in depth way to do it.
For a 47 year old woman, I’m actually pretty happy with my abdominals and tone of my body, but having the results on the inside is vital, and this is a way to go that one step deeper. Thank you BWT physios
love Bev
Beverley Densham BSc (Hons)
Pilates expert
Pilates to feel good
Www.pilatestofeelgood.com
Telephone 01202 802936
for more info about BWT ultra latest scans in Dorset,
Www.bwtphysio.co.uk
