Hi I'm Michelle and welcome to today's exercise routine. We're going to go through a really gentle
stretching exercise routine that many people have asked for and this exercise routine or
this stretching exercise routine is for pelvic floor safe stretching. So many of you have asked
for pelvic floor safe stretches so this is an exercise routine that you can do or safe
stretching exercise routine that you can do if you've got pelvic floor problems such as prolapse,
pelvic pain or if you're just recovering from general illness and you'd like to do a nice gentle
stretch. Now I’ve designed the program so that you can actually do the exercises either lying down
or you can do them also lying in your bed if you choose to. So all you'll need really is a pillow
or perhaps two pillows if you'd like to use them during the course of the session and we're going
to start lying down on our back. So if you can make yourself comfortable coming into lying down
and just take it right down. Let's extend our legs and just take a big breath in reach up,
big breath in stretch up and relax, and again breathe in stretch up, point your toes down
and relax and bring your arms back down. So remember as we breathe during our exercises today,
we're going to try and breathe into our belly so you should feel your belly rise
with your in-breath and then come down with the out breath.So let's just take a nice deep
breath into the belly breathing in and let the air out slowly, and again with your breathing,
think about breathing in through the nose slow and deep to get the air into your lungs
and let it go slowly. Alright we'll take the right knee into the chest for starters.
If you feel comfortable doing so, you can take the left leg, slide it down along the ground or along
the sheets if you're still in bed, if you're lucky enough to still be in bed. Let's take that same
leg up and put it towards the ceiling. So we're stretching now through the back of the thigh.
If you feel really quite flexible you can reach up and take that leg in further
and you should be feeling the stretch in through that back area there. Now let's bring that same
leg down and we're going to bring this hand, the outside hand, my right hand across and guide
and bring that knee across towards the shoulder. Now if you want to add a bit of extra pressure
to that stretch you can bring your hand around your ankle. This is a great buttock stretch to do
while lying down, so if you suffer from pelvic pain, your buttock muscles can often get really
tight so it's important to release these muscles. Just slow and steady and try to breathe out
with the stretch and release. Let's go to the other side. So we're going to go knee to chest
just bringing it in and remembering that when you stretch ideally your body's warm or you've warmed
up already. So when you start you've probably done a five minute walk or a ten minute walk
before you've started stretching and that you're nice and warm during the stretches.
And again stretching through the back of the thigh, now taking that knee across
and we're bringing it across again so I'm using my left hand on the outside of my left knee my
right hand comes in and just brings that foot around and stretches right into that buttock,
just relaxing the breath with the stretch and let's take the leg down. Alright both
knees are bent now, take your arms out to the side and let's roll to one side
with the roll remembering to keep it safe for your pelvic floor and your back keep your feet down on
the ground, that means keeping one foot in contact all the time so there's no increased pressure in
your lower back and you can take it across as far as it feels comfortable for your body
and back up and let's do that one more time bringing it up and
taking it back, and we'll finish off here with some pelvic tilts which means flattening
the arch of the back into the mat or the bed and back. And again nice and smooth,
just slow steady movements and thinking about your slow steady breathing and down
and back. All right let's roll on to one side. So rolling over onto your side and this is where
you might like to bring a pillow into play just to support your neck or you could use a cushion
as well. Both hands together out in front, you've got both knees bent and breathing in,
breathe out and take that top arm right over it across as far as you can so you can possibly get
your arm right around to the floor on the other side and this really opens up your chest and
it's a lovely movement for your middle back and lower back as well. So we're breathing in here
and breathe out and rotating, and we'll do one more of these coming back, breathing in
and breathing out bringing it across just to where it feels comfortable and
coming back. Now take that top hand down, reach around your ankle if you're able to
and bring that leg back. So you're going to bring the heel towards your bottom
and then also take the knee back so you start to stretch out through the front of your hip.
So again your nice relaxed breathing there in that position
and just releasing. We'll do that one more time just taking the leg back.
If it's hard for you to reach around your ankle you could always use a towel there
and loop it around and hold on to the towel to help you with that exercise
and bring the leg down. Now take a big breath in and breathe out and stretch up overhead
and you'll get some nice side stretch through your ribs as well reaching right up and you can
use your other hand just to draw that hand up as well if you choose to and that gives you a nice
big side stretch, and coming back and we're going to repeat the same thing on the other side. So
I'll stay facing you but go around the other way so moving around very elegantly,
coming on to our side and again, we'll start hands together breathing in and breathing out rotate
and take it as far across as you feel comfortable obviously stretching out the side of your chest
and also too your arm, and coming back. Doing three of these all together breathing in
and breathing out, take it out and open and once more breathing in
and taking it out and opening up there and coming back. Now bring your hand down,
take it around the front of your shin, bring the leg back. So remember you're taking your heel
just slightly towards your bottom, that's going to stretch out through the front of your thigh
and then if you can take the leg back it's also going to stretch through the front of your hip
again important stretches with pelvic pain and important to breathe out with the stretch. So just
your slow deep breaths, breathing in, breathe it out with the stretch, take it back, let's release.
Then we'll do that one more time as we did on the other side, taking it back, breathing in
and breathing out, bringing the leg back a little bit further if you can.
Lovely and it's released there and again another big stretch over the top
and stretching out through your side in between your ribs. Big breath in and out,
once more breathing in and out and let's finish off over on our backs and now we'll
just finish with some upper body stretches. So we’re going to link our fingers together,
press the palms up towards the ceiling, roll your shoulders forward, lift them off the ground
and bring them down and now the backs of the hands stretch right up
and bring the arms down and bring the hands together. Bring the elbows together,
they're touching. I'd like you to have a breath in and breathe out and open up through your
chest. Try to get your elbows and the back of your hands down to the bed or the ground if you can,
and let's repeat that again, breathing in and out, opening up and once more breathing in. This is
really nice for posture because by stretching out your chest allows you to stand tall,
and now from this position and I might just change my pillow angle, you can slide your hands right up
into your V stretch so back to your T stretch. They're in that position and your V stretch
which actually looks like that, and like that, so we'll do one more of these stretches, V stretch
and bring your arms down. Let's finish off with a nice big stretch up and over breathing in
breathing out stretch right over and back. Whole body stretch again, right out and relax
and one more time big stretch out and relax and bring your arms down by your sides and you
might like to just take a moment to relax your breathing. If it feels comfortable,
put a pillow underneath your knees just to take the pressure off your lower back.
So I really hope this little stretching exercise routine helps you stretch with confidence and know
that you're keeping your exercises pelvic floor safe. I really hope you enjoyed the stretch today,
if you like it please give it a like below and I'll see you next time, thanks for watching.