Great feedback everyone. As the study shows us what we are doing versus what we think we are doing. There is still much to interpret as to whether we should be cuing pelvic floor lifting or relaxing or maybe we should be discussing the idea of dynamic Intra abdominal pressure and what are some common strategies to have efficient control.

I think another big "aha" moment is that what we think is a pubococcygeus contraction versus a sphincter contraction or the vaginal wall in some circumstances.

I notice that when I engage my TA I don't get much response from my pfm but when I do a pelvic floor lift my TA responds at the same time. Should we be instructing clients to focus more on the pfm that the abdominals? Is a co-contraction the goal? I like to do both separately to retrain the muscles and then try and work on the co-contraction.

now i'm confused....
need more information!!!

I agree with Dr Brent. Like he said, it would be best for everyone to try to "relax" a fraction. A bit more focus on trying to relax and just breathe and "let go" - this will enable you to listen to your body talking to you then you will get that aha moment because too much analyzing adds that bit of unecessary stress that gets in the way of our receptivity

Perhaps you can try relaxing.

Breathe in and then squeeze as if trying to learn to do the Kegel exercise, hold for 5 seconds then breathe out, release/relax.

Next, try breathing in to prepare, then breathe out and squeeze; hold for 5 seconds, breathe in still holding the squeeze, then breathe out.

I hope it helps you EXPERIENCE the difference.

Now, you can repeat the whole thing and this time analyze as you wish and i hope it makes sense

I know this feed is 3 years old but it is potentially really interesting but incomplete as an article? I can't imagine the intention is to leave the audience feeling insecure/unsure? Why isn't the difference between what she was doing/ not doing explained please?

I appreciate the comments and certainly don't want to leave anyone hanging. Maybe we are due for an updated workshop for Pelvic floor. we have continued to collect data and we are continuing to see that volitional training of core muscles is not effective training compared to spontaneous training of the neural control of the movement. I am not sure how there is a feeling of insecurity. Please elaborate

There is a feeling of insecurity because the video highlights that 50% of Pilates instructors have got it wrong yet the difference between what she was doing/ not doing to draw up/push down wasn't explained?

And yes, a current pelvic floor workshop would be great please :)

wrong is only as it pertains to our perception of what we are doing vs what we are actually doing. If I said to lift your arm up and you left your arm down doesn't mean that your arm down is bad, it only means that you are challenged with proprioception of what up and down is. It probably is time for a workshop, but the gist of our research is that volitional training of the pelvic floor, ie Kegels, does not seem to be as effective as proper breathing and proper spontaneous training. More to come.