Episode #24 - 6 ways to relax the pelvic floor
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In this episode, Rhonda and Dayna discuss:
🔹Why kegels is not the only answer to manage pelvic floor symptoms
🔹Why it’s important to learn to RELAX your pelvic floor if you’re dealing with symptoms of leaking, prolapse or pelvis pain
🔹How do you know if you need to relax the pelvic floor?
🔹6 of our favourite ways to relax the pelvic floor:
1️⃣ Z-lying
2️⃣ Legs up the wall
3️⃣ Prone lying
4️⃣ Child’s pose
5️⃣ 1/2 frog stretch
6️⃣ Figure 4/ pigeon pose
🔹 Some tips on why these are helpful and when/ how long to do them!
Click here to check out Rhonda’s post with video demos of each of these!
We’re excited for you to listen to this episode and hope you find some of these tips helpful. Let us know in the comments!
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Episode #24 - 6 ways to relax the pelvic floor
We're excited to have you join us for this episode of Pelvic Health and Fitness. I'm Dayna Morellato, Mom, Orthopedic and Pelvic Health Physiotherapist. And I'm Rhonda Chamberlain, Mom, Orthopedic Physiotherapist and Pre Postnatal Fitness Coach. On this show, we have open and honest conversations about all phases of motherhood, including fertility, pregnancy, birth, postpartum, menopause, and everything in between.
We also provide helpful education and information on fitness, the pelvic floor, and many aspects of women's health, including physical, mental, and emotional wellness. Please remember as you listen to this podcast that this is not meant to treat or diagnose any medical conditions. Please contact your medical provider if you have specific questions or concerns.
Thanks so much for joining us. Grab a cup of coffee. Or wine. And enjoy!
Hi, everybody. Welcome to the pelvic health and fitness podcast, where today, Rhonda and I are going to talk about ways to relax your pelvic floor. So needed. Very important. A big misconception I would say about the pelvic floor is that we only need to be strengthening and doing Kegels that often has been, at least in the past, a very common piece of advice given to people postpartum certainly, but any, after any sort of.
pelvic floor complaints, whether that be leaking or heaviness, you might hear, might have heard any sort of medical practitioner recommending Kegels. Um, and while Kegels definitely have their place, they are not something that we all need to be doing all the time. So we're going to talk about what happens when we have to relax the pelvic floor and how do we do that?
Yes. And especially the world we are living in right now. So if you're listening to this as it airs, we're still at the tail end of the pandemic. So I think we've all been living in a constant higher state of anxiety than maybe many of us are used to. And there's some world events going on that will for sure, just ramp up our nervous system.
And we've talked on the podcast before about how our pelvic floor sort of has that primal reflex reaction to stress. Where if we are stressed or feeling extra anxious, it will most likely be held in a bit more tension than maybe we want. And that can lead to symptoms like leaking, heaviness, pain, pain with intercourse.
All of the things that, yeah, we want to hopefully help you all feel better with. So, yeah, so, um, I will say right off the bat, I did a post on this on Instagram. And I'll link the, um. Uh, link to it in the show notes, just so you have a visual of what we're about to talk about, because yes, this is a podcast.
So we'll kind of talk our way through some of these, um, poses and stretches. Um, but a visual will help you all. And that I was just saying to Dayna, that was the most saved post I've ever done. So I think we've clearly sort of found a theme that we are all needing more of. So let's get into it. So we're going to have.
Six different options for you all different ways to relax your pelvic floor. So the first one is dead lying, and we've talked a lot about dead lying on the podcast. I think it's probably yours. And my first go to that's usually go to for the pelvic floor, for the back, for the pelvis. Basically any sort of like lower body symptoms, just such a good relaxation reset position.
So what that is is the easiest way to set yourself up would be if you have a carpeted floor, if you have a yoga mat on the floor, and then using a couch or an Ottoman, you're going to get your legs up onto the Ottoman laying on your back. So then you end up being your body's in sort of a Zed. position.
So your butt's right up against the edge of the couch. And yeah, just relaxing in that position. You can do some nice deep inhales and exhales. I often get my clients to put their hands on their lower tummy and just getting a bit of that belly breath, feeling that Um, I often say to my clients, if you're someone that appreciates a bit of a body scan meditation, that's a really good time to do that.
And just when in our lives do we just lay on the floor and relax, right? So it's a good time to just take our time, do some breathing, um, get some relaxation of the pelvic floor. Yes, for sure. Definitely one of my favorite, probably most recommended exercises. I kind of call it the cure all for the pelvic floor, truthfully, because you just take all that work off.
And as a variation there, um, legs up the wall. If you're into yoga, it can be a very similar posture position. Same effects where you kind of scoot your bum right close to the wall and then have your legs going straight up the wall. Um, I want to mention too, if you are pregnant and listening to this Um, earlier stages of pregnancy, you are safe to do this.
Of course, some people are okay to lie in this position for short periods of time. Uh, even during pregnancy, obviously check with your healthcare practitioners. We don't want you lying on your back for too, too long, but you're just watching for any sort of symptoms of feeling unwell. So nausea, uh, sweaty, just very unwell, which would say get out of that position, please.
Right. The, so you mentioned to our, our, the second exercise there, uh, that you can practice in that zed line or legs up the wall would be a reverse Kegel, which, uh, we have chatted about before, but just as a reminder, a reverse Kegel really is just that nice. big belly inhale. So thinking about inhaling, when we take a nice big inhale, our diaphragm will move down.
So we allow air into our lungs and our pelvic floor, which is essentially another diaphragm down in the pelvis will also soften, relax and lower. Um, so we want to feel that nice big inhale. If it feels very strange or a lot of times clients will say this feels backwards to me, particularly if you tend to be a bit of what we call apical breather.
So breathing a little bit more up into your chest or your upper body, I will have them think about their ribs and their rib cage a little bit more. So thinking about expanding your lungs in that lower rib cage, feeling that nice pressure come low. We're not pushing down. And then your exhales just.
Passive. So we're not lifting or squeezing any blueberries. We're just letting that air out. Um, if you're in that zed line position, you're obviously going to focus a little bit more. Like I said, on the belly, you can even check in and relax your jaw in that position. There is a very strong connection between jaw tension and our pelvic floor.
And then you can think about your back relaxing as well. Although Rhonda is going to chat about that with the next exercise here. Yeah, I'll just add to the reverse Kegels too. I think we've mentioned this on the podcast. I learned this from Holistic Health Physio is the flower bloom breath. So just if you're someone that appreciates a bit of a visualization, that really helped me, especially in the early postpartum phases, I really needed to work on the relaxation of my pelvic floor.
So anytime I was feeding Tegan, I would work on the flower bloom breath. So I would close my eyes. Do my inhale, basically picture a flower blooming in my pelvic floor. And then on the exhale, I would picture that flower continuing to bloom because my reaction typically would be to clench and do a Kegel, even though I wasn't, I was trying not to so that instinctual hypertonic.
contraction was hard for me to break. So that visual of the flower blooming really did help me a lot. Yeah, for sure. If you're a visualization person, it can be really, really powerful. And also what I love about what you said there was that you just linked it to something you were already doing, which is, yeah, I have a second.
Habit stacking, which is one of the easiest ways to get some of these things into your day. Tummy time, lie down on the floor, do some zed lying. Exactly. Yeah. You're more likely to do it with something that you're going to do in the day anyways. Yeah. All right. So number three is prone lying. So what prone lying is, is basically laying on your belly.
So this will depend on the type of delivery you had. If you had, if you're a cesarean section mama. Um, just see what your comfort level is for this. So I often say if you had a caesarean section, uh, try this because it actually can be helpful to just give a little bit of pressure into the incision area.
But I would say maybe just put a pillow under your abdomen. So Laying on the floor, um, whatever surface feels comfortable for you. I would say maybe not as much a bed because then you might have a tendency to sort of like arch through your back. So more of a flatter surface, and then you can just rest your forehead on your hands or have a pillow or a yoga block, something to rest your forehead on.
And the nice thing that I really love about prone lying, laying on your belly. Is you get really awesome feedback from the floor. So this is a really good time to focus on feeling the expansion of your belly into the floor with that feedback. And also like Dayna sort of touched on, we're going to get a really good feeling of expansion and breath into our back.
And I feel like that's an area, me personally, I struggled to sort of like feel breath into my back. So we want that. Umbrella breathing where it's through the belly through the rib cage and through the back. So again, laying on your belly gives a little bit more of a way to feel that air move into your back.
And again, just with that conscious breathing, that's going to help us relax the pelvic floor. It all goes together. So if you're someone I know, even for me, again, that flower bloom breathing helped, but I have clients that if they think about their pelvic floor, They have a hard time relaxing it. So sometimes it's like, take your mind off what your pelvic floor, what your vagina is doing, and maybe just picture your back or picture your ribs.
And that will in turn help to relax the pelvic floor. Yeah, for sure. And calm the brain. It's a little bit of a meditation as well, too. I often will have people who are struggling maybe with some pregnancy insomnia or something like this, maybe not prone lying, obviously, but do some of these breathing exercises right before they go to bed and have that added benefit of just pausing the thoughts and relaxing the body that way from a top down perspective.
Yep. Okay. Another favorite way to relax the pelvic floor is child's pose. So child's pose would be on a floor, bringing your feet together, maybe, you know, your toes together and your knees as wide as you comfortably can. And then thinking about folding. forward at the hip. So reaching forward, bringing your forehead, if you're comfortable all the way down to the floor or your palms, or like you said, for prone, lying onto a yoga block, whatever you feel comfortable with, and then breathing into that position.
So as we take the knees apart and we sort of display through the pelvis a little bit we get this lengthening of the pelvic floor just positionally and then you can breathe into that as well. So thinking about that flower bloom breath that Anita Lambert likes to use or just visualize that sort of lowering of the floor, the relaxing of your tummy.
Two birds, one stone. We've got some reverse kegels happening there in a child's pose position. If you are pregnant and further along in your pregnancy and you hate that position, I have a lot of people who can feel pretty short of breath being that folded forward if baby's particularly high under your ribs.
Um, I had a client just this week who had awful acid reflux and that sort of seemed to flare it up. You can prop your body up on some pillows so you don't have to be completely folded down to the ground or even up on your elbows. And I have had not just removing the forward fold aspect of it. So still having your feet together, your knees wide, and just sort of sitting into that position.
Um, not necessarily a child's pose. I don't even know what I would call that position. Yeah. Just breathing there because we're still getting that same knees apart, lengthening of the floor and breathing into it. So it can be any or all of those variations, whatever feels good for you. I love that. Yeah, it's definitely always a favorite of mine.
It always feels really good. So yeah, so child's pose, these sort of last three are sort of introducing some hip mobility as well. So, um, the first three were sort of just static lying position. So the nice thing with adding sort of a hip mobility component too. So, um, if you picture your anatomy, All of our hip muscles attached to parts of the pelvis.
So if we're working on lengthening and relaxing through the hips, then again, that's going to have a direct impact on what's happening with the pelvic floor too. So the fifth one going along with that same hip mobility theme is I call it a half frog. I know some people call it a doctor rock backs. Um, I'll see if I can explain this, um, without having a visual.
But basically you're going to start on your knees. You're going to bring one leg straight out to the side and just resting on like your foot down on the ground. And then you're going to think about similar sort of motion of like the child's pose, um, rocking your hips back. Um, so basically what you're doing with this one is you're Lengthening and getting some stretch into your adductors and what your adductors are.
People will call it like the groin muscle, the inner thigh muscle, which often with many of us gets very short and tight. And again, especially if you're someone that tends to hold a lot of tension and tone in your pelvic floor. More than likely. You're also holding a lot of tension and tone in your adductors.
I don't know if you, this is one that every time I do a Dayna, it's like, Oh man, I need to do this one more often. Super tight. Yeah. So really good one again, just to focus on getting some breathing as you do that. Um, when it comes to these sort of stretches of the hips, um, I personally say. I'm very much about like getting rid of the all or nothing mindset.
Cause people will say, well, how long do I have to hold it? Basically as long as you're going to hold it to do it. So whether that's 10 seconds, whether that's a minute, just do it. And a little bit's going to help, right? It's better to do 10 seconds of a stretch than no stretch at all. So there's no, yeah, we go into sort of like the research that's been done, that it probably does help to hold it a little longer, but something is better than nothing.
Yeah, for sure. Um, yes. And hurt versus harm too, right? I think it's always important when you're doing these, just because we're mentioning them, if there's any pain involved with them, try any sort of modifications, but these are mostly pretty gentle, but they should, they might feel uncomfortable. They could, that hurts so good type.
for some of them, particularly that one. Um, but that's sort of the sensation we're going for. It shouldn't be causing any pain. So if it is them just choose, this is sort of a menu, choose the ones that you like. Yeah. I always say, I just want to add with that, like people again, sometimes need sort of a number to follow.
So I say when it comes to stretching, Sort of like a four or five at a 10 sensation is where we want to be. So again, some, some of us that are like type a, um, try so hard type people. It's we, we might, we might think it doesn't count unless it's like a nine at a 10 stretch. And I would say, Oh, that's probably maybe pushing it a little too far.
So like a four to five out of 10, just a nice, gentle, relaxing stretch feel. Yeah, for sure. Okay. And the last exercise we have is a pigeon stretch or a figure four stretch. So a pigeon stretch is more of a yoga pose where you are, um, bringing, let's just use, I'm better if I have my left or right. So you're going to bring left Knee sort of up towards the top corner of your left mat if you're on a yoga mat, and then your right leg would be extended straight behind you.
So if you can kind of visualize that shape that you would be in, one leg is stretched behind you, one is sort of up into kind of Angled into hip flexion and external rotation. If you're sort of a, uh, rehab kid, physio minded, like we are. Uh, and then you can add that again, that forward flexion. So bringing your body down on top of that, uh, flexed bent knee into the left corner there.
Again, similar to child's pose, this can feel very different for many different reasons pregnant or not, sometimes during pregnancy again it can cause an uncomfortable sensation of pressure sort of up into the ribs depending on who you are. Some pregnant women love it. So again, try them and see how they feel for you.
Typically, again, we're in that stretch position. So usually the recommendation is 30 seconds minimum. But again, if you're 10 seconds feels good for you, then do it for 10 seconds. I'd rather you get a little bit than none at all, uh, versus a figure four stretch figure four can be done in a variety of positions.
It can be done on your back. So if you think about lying on your back with your knees bent feet on the floor and crossing one ankle onto the opposite knee and then letting that knee fall out to the side. You could then even bring one knee up towards your chest. So again, using left or right, if you're lying on your back, cross your left ankle onto your right knee and left that.
Let that left knee fall out to the side. If that feels like enough of a stretch, you can hang out there. If you need a little bit more, you're going to keep that ankle on your right knee and then bring your right knee in towards your chest to deepen that stretch a little bit. So if you're someone who's comfortable to be on your back, you can try it there.
Always breathing in these stretches. You want to avoid any sort of breath holding. The point is to be letting go of tension. I often have people just do it in sitting. So sitting in a chair, cross that left knee or pardon me, that left ankle onto your right knee. Let that left knee fall to the side. You can gently lean forward if you feel like you need more of a stretch, but that's a nice, easy one to do.
I've been giving it to all my working from home people sitting at desks all day long. Um, it is a fantastic way to let go of some tension in your glutes and that's your, your pelvic floor. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So that's the the six and I would just add to all of these two because people will say like so when should I do these or how do I fit these into my day because we're many of us listening are likely busy moms like Dayna and I so we sort of touched on the flower bloom breath and pairing that with feeding baby.
Um, I love habit stacking. So with my clients, typically what I'll do at the end of each workout, I'll give a couple of these. So I'll give a couple of hip mobility and I'll give one sort of like breathing position. And I encourage my clients to again, it doesn't need to be an extra 10 minutes of your workout, just like three to five minutes of a bit of hip mobility.
and doing like 10 to 20 deep inhales and exhales in one of those positions. That's a really good way to just remind yourself to do it. And also I find just a good way to sort of bookend a workout. So typically after a workout, our pelvic floor might be in a bit more tone again, because we just contracted all those muscles.
So just a nice way to just remind our bodies that yes, it's important to strengthen, but let's also. Um, and also work on that relaxation. So if you're someone that's in a consistent workout routine, that's a good way to do it. Um, also just pairing it with other things you do in the day, again, like feeding your baby or anytime baby's doing tummy time, get down onto the floor, do your prone lying.
If you're someone that likes to do it before bed, a good way to just calm the nervous system and settle into your night. Um, yeah, those are some ideas. Absolutely. I love all of those. And, um, if you're listening and wondering, like, how do I know if I need to relax my pelvic floor? I often will say, you know, if you're able to check in with a pelvic health physio doing that internal assessment, especially if you're having any symptoms and by symptoms, it can be leaking of bowel or bladder or gas.
Um, it can be feelings of pressure, heaviness. Feeling like something sitting in the vagina, pain in the pelvis for any reason with tampons, intercourse, anything like that. Um, I highly recommend seeing a public physio because that internal exam can give you valuable information. Um, if that's not something that you're able to do right now and you've been trying Kegels and you think you're doing them correctly and those symptoms are not resolving, try relaxing your pelvic floor.
Yeah. Um, it's often a little bit of a tough sell for people who say, uh, they come in and they're leaking or they use sentences like I feel like everything's falling out and we give them relaxation exercises. But I always remind people, your muscles can't stay contracted and do their job indefinitely. So if you had your bicep flexed and you were holding 25 textbooks on your Yeah.
hand and carrying that around all day and somebody came around and continued to add textbooks, textbook, textbook, which would be urine in a bladder, or someone came around and rudely smacked the top of that textbook like a sneeze, you would probably get some leaking. Right, right. You'd have to be dropping textbooks in this example, or you put them down finally and you go to pick up a glass of water, your arm's going to feel pretty heavy, pretty weak.
So the pelvic floor is no different. So if you're holding a lot of tension and tightness in your pelvic floor, it can absolutely cause all of those symptoms just as readily as weakness can. Yes. Yep. A little bit of both. Dayna and I just talked before we recorded here that again, it's, it's not one or the other, right?
So we're not saying, you know, if, if you're having some of these symptoms that you only need to focus on relaxation, um, let's find a balance of. You know, a whole body strengthening, doing some Kegels if that is something that your body needs. And then also adding in some of these lengthening and relaxation strategies.
Happy relaxing. Yes. Enjoy. And again, check out the post with some visuals. So hopefully we did an okay job of describing how to do these, but it much easier if you check out the videos in the post in the show notes. Yes. Fantastic. Thanks for listening to today's podcast. We hope you enjoyed the conversation.
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