Top Tips to Care for Your Pelvic Floor, from a Pelvic Floor Therapist

While often overlooked, caring for your pelvic floor is essential to living a life where you are free to participate in all of the activities you want and need to do. The impact of symptoms such as urinary leakage, painful sex, or chronic hemorrhoids have a ripple effect that can negatively impact relationships, joyful movement, and social participation. The good news is, you don’t need to make major changes in your life to have a healthy pelvic floor. Small changes and a “more often than not” mentality is enough to keep your pelvic floor functioning in tip top shape! Here are my top tips:

Be thoughtful about your beverage consumption: 

Stay hydrated by consuming about half your body weight in oz of water each day (you might feel like you need more if you are pregnant or breastfeeding!). Avoid chugging, and aim to take small sips throughout the day instead to optimize hydration. Limiting bladder irritants like caffeinated beverages, alcohol, and carbonated drinks may be helpful if you notice more leaking or bladder discomfort after consuming them. Concentrated urine is also a bladder irritant, so limiting fluids won’t decrease urgency or leakage, in fact it can make it worse! Staying hydrated is also important for healthy, regular bowel movements which leads me to my next point…

Tidy up your poop habits: 

Pushing down and straining during a bowel movement can lead to hemorrhoids, organ prolapse, and anal fissures. So other than staying hydrated, what can we do?

• Proper positioning: you don’t need a squatty potty (though these are great!) to get into an optimal position for poop. You can use a stool, two yoga blocks, upside down garbage pail, you name it. If your knees are above your hips then you’re doing it right! Leaning forward slightly can be helpful too.
• Breathing > pushing: Deep, full inhales can help the pelvic floor muscles and sphincters to relax, which allows your body to do its thing on the toilet rather than needing to push. It may take more than one deep breath to work, so be patient. 
• Fiber intake: Aim to get around 30g of fiber a day to stay regular (daily is the goal). The more diverse your fiber sources are, the better! Some of my favorite fiber heavy hitters include: edamame, berries, chia seeds, and popcorn!

Let go of your glutes: 

I spend a lot of time working with my clients on how to relax and lengthen the muscles of their pelvic floor, which is essential to their function. When these muscles hold too much tension, symptoms like painful penetration, incontinence, constipation, and generalized pelvic pain can crop up (among others!). One of the easiest ways to help these muscles relax is to let go of that booty! Check in on what your glute muscles are doing during prolonged standing activities (think showering, meal prep, or brushing your teeth). If they are clenched, let them go; your pelvic floor will relax along with your glutes. And while you’re at it, let your jaw and curled toes go too.

Take deep breaths: 

Learning to properly breathe is essential to the mobility and function of your pelvic floor. Ditch the belly breathing and take a few minutes each day to “360 breathe.” Take full, deep inhales and send your breath into all areas of your chest and abdomen.You should feel your chest rise, your ribs expand, your belly open up, and even a gentle stretch of your pelvic floor. Allowing all of these structures to expand helps keep them mobile and properly functioning. You want to make sure that your breath, and other abdominal pressure changes, are not focused to any one area, which can lead to diastasis recti, prolapse, poor digestion, neck or back pain. Bonus side effect: you’ll also experience a nervous system re-set almost immediately, and who among us doesn’t need that!

For the love of god PLEASE stop just in case peeing: 

Did you know that there is a connection between your brain and your bladder? Your bladder contains stretch receptors that fire to tell your brain to go to the bathroom once it’s filled. However, the bladder is highly trainable for better or for worse. If you are regularly going to the bathroom “just in case,” or when your bladder is not actually full, you are actually training these receptors to fire way before you actually have to go. This leads to frequency, urgency, and even leakage over time. A good goal is to pee every 2-4 hours, or 6-8 total voids in a day.

Are you interested in Pelvic Floor Therapy? You may want to seek treatment if you are experiencing any of the below:

• Urinary or fecal incontinence
• Urinary urgency
• Chronic constipation or hemorrhoids 
• Diastasis Recti AKA ab separation
• Painful sexual activity
• Generalized pelvic pain
• Scar management (cesarean or perineal)
• Pelvic organ prolapse (heaviness or pressure in the pelvic area)
• Prevention of any of the above
• Assistance with birth prep or birth recovery

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Blair Mauri is a licensed Occupational Therapist specializing in Pelvic Floor Therapy. She provides customized, in-home pelvic health services for her clients throughout Brooklyn and Manhattan. Blair has a passion for women’s health, supporting the transition to parenthood, and empowering her clients to feel in charge of their own wellness and recovery. For more information about her practice or to book a session, reach out here!

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