Winter Months and The Pelvic Floor.

The winter months can wreak havoc on our pelvic floor for a number of reasons: frequent bouts of illness with coughing/sneezing, different and often heavier foods celebrating with loved ones, increased stress levels around tricky family dynamics, long hours traveling via car or plane, and typically being off our normal exercise routine. These things can all lead to increased symptoms such as urinary leakage, constipation/diarrhea, and pain in the hips/back/pelvic region. 

Thankfully, there are lots of easy ways to support better pelvic health during this season! 

1. Returning to nasal breathing as soon as you can during/post illness, doing exercises where you are rotating through your torso and ribcage, and staying appropriately hydrated with some electrolytes can all reduce the likelihood of urine loss. 

   1. If you are leaking with coughing or sneezing, doing what is called “the knack” prior to cough/sneezing can also reduce leakage. When you feel a sneeze or cough coming on, doing a small contraction of your pelvic floor muscles can often help. Think about zipping a zipper from your pubic bone to belly button

2. Changes in bowel habits are super common with travel and with eating lots of different foods than normal; prioritizing water intake and going for 10-20 minute walks after eating can really help promote more normalized digestion

3. Times of high stress tend to increase any underlying pelvic floor symptoms we may have such as pain, leakage, constipation, etc and the holidays can definitely do that to people. Spending a few minutes doing some purposeful diaphragmatic breathing, getting outside even for a couple of minutes (bundled up as needed), humming, journaling, taking a break from a big gathering and finding a few minutes for yourself can all be really helpful to bring our nervous system back into a more regulated state. 

If these are things you deal with frequently, there are so many things we can work on to allow you to be more present and enjoy this season! And if your goals for the New Year include anything exercise related, getting your pelvic health into a good spot will allow you to reach your goals more easily – these muscles are involved in every exercise we do! 

Tanner Hampton PT, DPT, SFMA, Certified Functional Dry Needling L1, TFA (The Female Athlete), GGS Certified Pre- and Postnatal Coach