External massage can be especially useful for people who are a bit squeamish about doing an internal massage on themselves. Its a great place to start exploring your pelvic floor , finding your trigger points and bringing you some relief. Finally time to start healing the pelvic floor.
When performing a external massage to pelvic floor I concentrate on the Glutes Piriformis, Pubococcygeus and Levator Ani muscles which make up the bulk of the pelvic floor muscles. The levator Ani muscle is especially prone to holding painful trigger points as this is the muscle responsible for the upwards pelvic floor contraction, and is responsible for holding painful tension in your pelvic floor muscles.
Method
Before you being make sure to find a quiet place where you will have 10-15 minutes free without being disturbed. So you can fully relax and get the most out of the massage session. I find it best to do 5-10 minutes before a morning or evening shower.
1. You will be massaging your pelvic floor with your hands so it is important to maintain proper hygiene practices. You can get some examination gloves from your local chemist or online , I usually go for the vinyl powder free examination gloves as they are fairly cheap and have close no chance of causing skin irritations or allergic reactions.
2. Put on the examination gloves, and either lie on your back or stand up with one foot propped up on a low stool. The standing position may be the best for easy access as you will be going for some hard to reach places :).
3. You can begin the massage by exploring the muscles the wind around your anus, and searching with your fingers for any painful area's or parts that may feel gristly. Take it gently, relax and listen to your body. There is no right way to massage at this point its really going to be about finding trigger points. A trigger point will be any area that responds with pain to the touch, A happy supple muscles will not be painful when manipulated.
4. When you find a painful area , you can push the pads of your fingers into that area with a circular pushing motion or by simply holding constant pressure until the pain lessens.You will eventually increase blood flow to these muscles and breath new life into them and it can be quite a pleasant experience.
5. Go around every nook and cranny and find trigger points, knead them out and continue. Remember to take it easy as these muscles will take some time to get used to being massaged. After a massage give body time to heal and process the new oxygenated blood coming through.
6. Repeat the massage 3-4 times a week or as often as required.
Theracane
I recently purchased a theracane to knead out some trigger points in my hips and lower back and found it very useful for performing discrete pelvic floor massages as well. You use the handles on the theracane to get a nice Glutes Piriformis release.
It is great for targeting larger groups of muscles and definitely has its place in my arsenal of massage equipment but will never be quite as precise as using a gloved hand to find trigger points which can sometimes be like searching for a needle in hay stack.
Internal Massage
After all that here I am talking about internal massage again, I wish I could just ignore it but to be honest internal massage can be extremely valuable and its probably the most common procedure that a pelvic floor specialist will perform on you to examine your pelvic floor health.
An Internal massage gives you the ability to manipulate muscles from a totally different angle and also allows for a great number of stretching exercises. I know many people turn there nose up to get anywhere near their rear ends but that's exactly the problem right there, We are so disconnected its like we ignore that poor little peep hole because of its dirty history. He/She is part of us and deserves to be treated as such and only then will it heal.
Well enough of my blabbing , I shall publish a post on internal massage shortly or perhaps a different topic first. Stay Tuned if anyone is reading :P
