Why are my Pelvic floor muscles feeling more weak or symptomatic during my period?

Have you noticed that your pelvic floor muscles don’t function the same throughout your menstrual cycle, depending on what stage you are at? This is all related to your hormones, namely estrogen.

Smiling woman in a pink shirt holds a pelvis model. She's seated, gripping a red spiky exercise ball in a room with wooden walls.

Let’s give you a quick rundown on your menstrual cycle and your pelvic floor muscles:

Your Pelvic floor muscles

Your pelvic floor muscles are a hammock of muscles that lie within your pelvis, stretching and attaching side to side to your sitz bones and front to back and attaching to your pubic bone at the front and tailbone at the back. They are made up of outer superficial muscles as well as deeper layers which is all you need to know to keep things simple for now, you dive much deeper into understanding and improving your pelvic floor connection and function inside my Confident core and pelvic floor course.

Your pelvic floor muscles functions include:

Controlling your toileting habits

Literally hold your abdominal organs in (bladder, uterus and bowel)

Play a part in sexual stimulation

Helping regulate intra-abdominal pressure

Helping to stabilise your trunk and core system

For optimal function of your pelvic floor muscles you need good coordination, range of motion, strength and flexibility of all of these muscles. Not only that, you need these muscles to also coordinate with the rest of your body, especially your deep core muscular system.

Your Menstrual Cycle

Another significant component of your pelvic floor muscle function needs to consider hormones.

Typically a women's menstrual cycle lasts about 28 days, with day one being the first day of your period until the last day being the day before your period starts again. This cycle is driven by the hormones estrogen and progesterone to prepare for a pregnancy to be conceived.

During the menstrual phase is when estrogen levels are at their lowest and estrogen plays a big part in the integrity and tone of your pelvic floor tissues and muscles. Estrogen helps keep these muscles nice and elastic, strong and functional, so it is no wonder that when your estrogen levels are at their lowest in your monthly cycle that you might notice an increase in pelvic floor symptoms.

Here’s what happens throughout your cycle from a hormonal perspective, and how it may relate to the way your pelvic floor muscles feel at different points.

Menstrual phase (approx days 1-5): Estrogen is low, energy levels might be low too. Pelvic floor symptoms might be at their peak.

The follicular phase (approx days 6 -14): Your estrogen and testosterone levels begin to rise as they work to thicken the uterus lining to prepare for an embryo implantation, hello more energy, more focus and typically better pelvic floor muscle function.

Ovulation (approx day 14 -17): Your estrogen and testosterone levels will be at their peak, energy levels and pelvic floor function will also be peaking!

The luteal phase (approx days 18-28): The uterus lining continues to develop with the assistance of the hormone progesterone starting to increase while estrogen and testosterone levels start to decline.

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"Estrogen fluctuations seeming to be the biggest culprit"

So, with that explanation I hope you might now have a better understanding of what might be going on for any change in symptoms you might be having, with estrogen fluctuations seeming to be the biggest culprit.

Other considerations for your pelvic floor and your period:

During your period it is common that intra-abdominal pressure (management of pressure throughout your entire core/trunk muscular system) is more difficult to manage as well as having an increase in pelvic floor symptoms. It is worth checking out this blog to better understand the significance of your entire core system functioning optimally to contribute to your pelvic floor muscles also being able to function at their best.

Ultimately, also ensuring your have your ‘big rocks’ under control will have the biggest impact on your overall health, wellbeing and function; ie. sleep, stress, nourishment with protein, fruits, vegetables, whole foods and water, self-care, exercise that suits your mood, mind and body and function.

My recommendations:

Adjust your exercise according to your symptoms, if symptoms are significant enough I recommend tracking your cycle so that you can plan for the types of exercise you are doing each day/week.

Don’t push through pelvic floor symptoms, it won’t make it better, in fact it might make it worse - speaking from experience here, opps! I learnt the hard way, still suffering the symptoms (on a much smaller scale these days) and a business has been born out of it to help spread the word, support, education and strategies for preventing, solving and managing your symptoms.

So, if you’re struggling with your pelvic floor symptoms and noticing them to be worse at certain times of your cycle:

Know that you are not alone
Know that there is help and support available right here with my accessible and affordable online program launching soon
Know that there are management products such as double-undies for leaking and pessary’s for support (tampon like devices that you can insert inside your vagina to support your pelvic floor muscles and tissues), available through a pelvic floor physio, GP or specialist.