Tip of the Week: Letting Go is THAT Powerful
If you've been evaluated before at SPH, you know that we're pretty thorough. We like to screen movement and look at the way the spine, hips, shoulders and feet move. We often assess breathing, evaluate the ribcage and abdomen, look at how the body transmits force through it, assess the soft tissues and muscles around the pelvis, and frequently, we recommend a specific examination of the pelvic floor muscles. This can include an external assessment or may include an internal assessment of the muscles.
With so many pelvic health conditions--> from bladder leakage, to prolapse, to pelvic pain, to constipation, to painful sex... and so much more, it is extremely common that the pelvic floor muscles actually present as tense, sensitive and overactive. Research consistently shows that healthy muscles shouldn't hurt-- so, when we identify senstivity and tenderness in the pelvic floor muscles, it is often our first goal to help those muscles move better, lengthen, and function more optimally. This tension in the pelvic floor muscles can contribute to problems like urinary urgency and frequency, pelvic pain or painful sex, constipation or difficulty emptying bowel movements, and more. It can also lead to compression around nerves, which impacts their firing-- leading to decreased muscle firing. So, this can be why we can see problems like bladder leakage increase when people have pelvic floor muscle tension.
When tension and overactivity is present, our first goal is typically to focus on improving the sensitivity and encouraging lengthening of the pelvic floor muscles. Often times, patients are taught an exercise called "Pelvic floor drops" which pairs pelvic floor lengthening and relaxation with diaphragmatic breathing. To do this, connect your brain to your pelvic floor muscles, then focus on dropping and letting go of any tension you feel. This is sort of like the motion we all do when we start a urine stream. If it is hard to feel the drop, you can do a very small contraction then let go and lengthen your pelvic floor. Once you let go and relax, then perform 2-3 slow diaphragmatic breaths. Breathing like this further encourages relaxation of the pelvic floor muscles. Repeat this for 2-3 minutes, twice each day.
Now, I know... this can seem very simple-- a little too simple-- but it's powerful! I can't tell you how many times I have had patients start this exercise, and they return a week later telling me how much better they are feeling! Or that their leakage seems to be so much better! Or that their pain is drastically improved. Now, it's not always magical like that...sometimes it takes a lot of time...over several visits... and people notice no change initially. And that is also-- normal-- but sometimes the body responds quickly!
So-- if relaxing and lengthening your pelvic floor muscles has been a part of your pelvic rehab journey-- know that there are SOLID reasons why. And, that it can take time. And that it does really matter for optimizing your pelvic health.
Got questions? Our team of pelvic health experts are here for you!
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Weekly Tips Pelvic Health Tips By Dr. Jessica Reale PT, DPT, WCS