Pelvic Floor

The pelvic floor is responsible for controlling important functions such as urination, evacuation or continence of urine and feces, acting as a sphincter. All these functions are performed in a voluntary manner, in a harmony between the systems of suspension and sustentation. The suspension is performed by the smooth musculature and connective tissue, being: anterior bundles (pubocervical ligament), lateral bundles (Mackenrodt’s or cardinal ligaments) and posterior bundles (uterosacral ligaments, which connect the uterus to the sacrum, taking the structures upwards and backwards). The pelvic diaphragm presents dynamic functionality in the pelvic floor and divides the perineum from the pelvic cavity. It consists of the coccygeal (or ischiococcygeal) muscle and the levator ani muscles (pubococcygeal, pubovaginal, puborectal and iliococcygeal). The urogenital diaphragm, in turn, is responsible for the static functionality of the pelvic floor, composed of the bulbocavernosus, ischiocavernosus, transverse perineal muscles (superficial and deep) and the external sphincteral muscle.