Anatomy Review: TVA and Pelvic Floor

ANATOMY REVIEW: THE CORE

The core is like a can of soda. The top of the can is the diaphragm (a significant muscle in the breathing process), the bottom is the pelvic floor, and the sides are your deepest core muscle, the TVA (transverse abs)

If you have improper breathing mechanics and really weak deep core strength, it can lead to problems like hip tightness, piriformis syndrome, IT band syndrome, back pain, sciatica, and SI joint pain.

Most people don’t know how to engage their core muscles properly and they end up bearing down with their upper abs or holding their breath or they just suck in their tummy. This puts undesirable downward pressure on the pelvic floor, which can cause issues like urinary incontinence, POP and a lower belly pooch.

TVA

The Transverse Abdominis = TVA. It’s your deepest core muscle and it’s massive.

Most people have a weak TVA? Why? Because they sit all the time and this disengages the TVA. Sitting is the new smoking.

The TVA muscle is your deepest core muscle and sits behind the 6-pack abs (the rectus abdominis). It’s massive. It runs from your pubic bone up the bottom of your ribcage. Think of the TVA as a corset. It stabilizes your spine.

The TVA is your body’s primary stabilizer. It acts first!

• Primary stabilizer = TVA
• Secondary stabilizers = Psoas, Quadratus Lumborum (QL). The Psoas and QL muscles are notoriously "jacked up" in a lot of people! Here's why...

When the TVA muscle isn’t doing its job properly, the secondary stabilizers take over. In other words, when the TVA isn’t working, the hip flexors and QL are in perpetual “holy cow mode” because on top of their normal job, they also have to do all the work that the TVA isn't doing. These muscles become overworked which makes them tight and irritated. Hence tight hips and low back pain.

What solved the problem for me was learning how to properly engage the TVA. Then I was able to strengthen the daylights out of it. And I’ll show you my favourite TVA exercises for this.

Stretching won’t fix the tight hip flexors and QLs. You have to go to the root cause: the TVA (which also means addressing your breathing mechanics and pelvic floor). That way the secondary stabilizers can relax. That’s how you open up the back and hips.

If your TVA is weak:

• Your abdominal muscles can split apart. This is called Diastasis Recti. It’s common with pregnancy.
• You can develop painful and tight hip flexors
• You can develop low back pain and stiffness

PELVIC FLOOR:

Our pelvic floor is a bowl of muscles attaching to the front, back and sides of the pelvis.

They support the organs (bowel, bladder, uterus) in the pelvis. Look at the photo below: it looks like a bowl (a pelvic bowl!).

The pelvic floor muscles are also important for: 1) Breathing, 2) Preventing the uncontrolled release of feces and urine, 3) Sexual function in both men and women, 4) Supporting the baby in utero and during childbirth, and 5) Working with the abdominal and back muscles to support and stabilize the spine.

Just like other muscles in your body, your pelvic floor muscles can get tight, weak, function poorly or can become painful.

The more we get in touch with our pelvic floor, the better we’re able to decrease tightness, improve strength and regulate pressure.

Why are the pelvic floor muscles important?

Because when you turn on your pelvic floor muscles, your TVA muscles can engage properly, which helps you stabilize your spine. The pelvic floor drives TVA engagement.

The key is to coordinate your pelvic floor and TVA engagement with your breath!

DO IT WITH ME: How do you activate the lower abs (lower TVA)?

• The first step is activating the pelvic floor: squeeze all openings and lift, then release the openings.
• Let's focus on activating the lower abs, particularly the TVA. A simple way to activate the TVA is by placing your hands around your waist, coughing, and feeling the TVA pull in. This exercise provides a sense of contraction and it gives you a sense of how to engage the TVA during breathing.
• Do this exercise with me: Inhale, allowing your ribs to gently expand, creating space for your lungs. Upon exhaling, feel your lungs getting smaller and the TVA pulling in. Try again: inhale and expand then exhale and gently pull the belly in. It might help to pretend you’re blowing through a straw on the exhale. This breathing exercise is a simple way to exercise the low abs and relieve stress. It also helps with the lower belly pooch.

The pelvic floor is not an isolated entity but is intricately linked to the broader kinetic chain. The body is a kinetic chain. The Feet, Hips, Thorax, and Diaphragm will influence Pelvic Floor Function. Hence the importance of whole-body functional training for pelvic muscles.