How Does The Pelvic Floor Help Your Bowel Movements?
A lot of people don’t know how the pelvic floor helps things like bowel movements.
A pelvic floor is a group of muscles that wrap around your bladder, rectum, and vagina.
It’s important because it allows you to do normal activities like walking or running without leaking urine. And if you experience constipation (or any other bowel movement issue), it can help with that too!
When you go to the bathroom, you want to be able to push your poop out.
Your pelvic floor muscles help that poop through by contracting and pushing it down your colon.
One way to think about it is like a train track.
All the muscles work together in a line, from your pelvic floor, all the way through your colon, and out in one big contraction.
Where Can You Find Help If You Or Your Child Has Pelvic Floor Issues?
If you’re finding it hard to manage bowel movements due to a lack of coordination in your pelvic floor, don’t feel embarrassed!
Here are some resources that might be helpful for you:
– The Cleveland Clinic gives some great information on managing pelvic floor disorders.
– The National Association for Continence also has some great resources, including a pamphlet you can print out at home or take to your doctor’s appointment.
– And if you have younger kids who are having trouble controlling their bladders or bowels, check out the Children’s Health website.
What is Constipation?
Constipation happens when you don’t have bowel movements as often as you usually do, or they are hard to pass.
A bowel movement usually includes pushing poop out of your body, but sometimes if things get backed up, the muscles in the pelvic floor may not be able to push it out.
What Is a Bowel Movement?
A bowel movement happens when you poop!
When your food passes through your colon, that’s a bowel movement.
On average people have a bowel movement about once or twice per day – but everyone is different.
Some people go as often as 3 times a day, and some as few as 3 times a week.
Your body is unique to you – so how often you have bowel movements may vary from person to person.
How Can The Pelvic Floor Help Your Bowel Movements?
When you’re going poop, it’s sort of like a train track – all the muscles work together to line up your bowel with your anus so poop can come out.
The pelvic floor is responsible for helping to push the poop through, with a series of contractions that propel it forward all the way through your colon and out the rectum.
What Is Incontinence?
Incontinence happens when you leak urine, sometimes by accident.
It can happen when you laugh or sneeze, cough, jump – any time your muscles are contracting really quickly and unexpectedly.
What is An “Overactive Bladder?”
An overactive bladder happens when your bladder doesn’t empty all the way – it can stay full even after you go to the bathroom.
This can cause many symptoms, including urinary frequency (going more than every few hours) and urinary urgency (feeling like you need to go right now).
An overactive bladder can be managed with various techniques like kegel exercises.
It shouldn’t be ignored because it’s a serious condition – without treatment, you could face kidney problems, bladder stones, infections, and more.
What Is The Urinary Frequency?
People who have urinary frequency go to the bathroom more than every few hours.
This can be a symptom of many bladder conditions, including IC and an overactive bladder.
It’s important to talk to a medical professional if you have concerns about urinary frequency so they can check out what might be going on.
What Is The Urinary Urgency?
When you have urinary urgency, it means you feel like you need to go right this second!
It can feel really uncomfortable and scary.
There are several causes of urinary urgency – bladder infections being one of them.
Other possibilities include IC, a nervous system condition called MS that affects the bladder, and others.
If you have urinary urgency or other symptoms like painful urination or blood in your urine, talk to a medical professional immediately!
Related Post:
I AM 81. STOOL DIFFICULT TO MOVE. TODAY I CRAWLED 20 FEET TO WASH BITS OF FLOOR. WITHIN 20 MINUTES THE PAIN AND IMMEDIATELY CAME THE STOOL. THEN A PAUSE. THEN ANOTHER 2′ OF STOOL, AND THEN A PAUSE……… I AM VERY THANKFUL TO KNOW THAT JUST A BIT OF CRAWLING AND GET THE PELVIC FLOOR TO WORK BETTER, I GUESS. I AM NOT A DOCTOR, BUT. WOW.!!!