We usually refer to "the pelvic floor" as though it was one single entity, but in fact your pelvic floor is comprised of eight muscles that work together (in four pairs) and combine with tendons, ligaments and fascial connective tissue to create the pelvic diaphragm.

Let's take a closer look.

For another demonstration, here's a nice short video from Ninja Nerd Science showing both the male and female pelvic floors.

So that gives you a sense of the structures of the pelvic floor itself, but your pelvic floor lives in the greater environment of your pelvis and is affected by all the muscles that attach to your pelvis.

Have you heard about the image of the pelvic floor as a trampoline? I was a gymnast as a kid, so this image really appeals to me. Usually we imagine the frame of the trampoline as the pelvis, and the bouncy part as the muscles.

Let's change it up a bit!

Keep the idea of the frame as the pelvis, but imagine the springs that hold the tramp in place as the individual pelvic floor components, continuing along to the bouncy part.

What I like about this image is it takes into account that we have multiple muscles that are ideally fairly well balanced and equally active. Can you picture a trampoline where the springs are all different lengths and tensions? It would affect your jumping a lot! We want your "springs" to be all doing their part.

And to take the image a bit further, we need spotters. When you're doing trampoline work, you have people standing all around the frame keeping an eye on you as you jump. They are a crucial part of the team when you're really going for it and having a great time!

In body terms, your spotters are the hip muscles that attach to the outside of your pelvis. Your glutes, deep rotators and inner thighs have a big effect on how your pelvis moves, and so on the muscles located inside it. We'll explore those in the Strong Hips & Your Pelvic Floor series.

Now that you have a picture in your mind of what you're working with, let's go and make some pelvic floor connections.