28 Jul How to Avoid Constipation With Kegel Exercises
Constipation is a common problem and affects many women who end up accepting it as a part of life. What you maybe don’t know is that, over time, constipation can damage your pelvic floor. Find out why and how to fight the problem: advice, habits and exercises for relieving stasis of the lower bowel from its root.
Constipation damages your pelvic floor
When we are constipated use a lot of abdominal force to push down, that force is taken on by the pelvic floor. Over time, this excessive pressure on the muscles of the pelvic floor cause it to weaken. What’s more, a weak pelvic floor does not make constipation any better, instead it makes it worse since it is these muscles that are responsible for helping open and close the sphincter and assist in healthy defecation. In addition, when the pelvic floor is weak other issues resulting from it may arise, for example urinary incontinence or pain during sex.
So we are caught in a vicious cycle: the constant constipation weakens our pelvic floor and the weakened pelvic floor makes our constipation worse. What can we do about it?
How to avoid constipation
At Bwom, we’ve prepared a plan with information, advice and exercises for treating the problem of constipation at its root, breaking the vicious cycle.
To access the “Avoid Constipation “plan, download Bwom from here (available for iPhone and Android).
What is included in the plan? It consists of a program of advice and practical exercises where we tackle the problem at 3 levels:
- Changes in daily habits:
We provide exercises based on your own observations of your body and your habits. The objective is for you to know the rhythms of your body and break the habits of holding it in when you have the urge to have a bowel movement, since it is this habit that causes constipation.
Do you know why? While you are holding it in, your feces is accumulating in your rectum. The body has prepared it and it is ready to be passed, but you don’t let it. When this happens, the feces spend more time in the rectum and become dehydrated and begin to harden. That’s why they form a plug that makes it difficult to defecate. In the Avoid Constipation plan you’ll discover much more information!
- Exercises and posture for when you are going to the bathroom
Posture is one of the keys to easy bowel movements and preventing your pelvic floor from constant suffering. What do you do when you go to the bathroom? Do you push? Curl up in a ball? Sit up straight? Do you massage your stomach?
Pushing in an upright position is the first habit you need to break. It’s extremely harmful to your pelvic floor because the force you use pushes your bladder and uterus downward causing all the pelvic floor muscles to be stretched and weakening them.
What can you do instead of pushing? Try the following exercise: When you feel like you need to push, take posterior breaths and when exhaling, bring your belly button inward, as if you wanted to suck in your stomach. Bring it in toward your spine and up toward your chest. Do this several times while seated on the toilet.
- Kegel exercises for strengthening the pelvic floor
Why do Kegel exercises for constipation? Experts agree that there are two types of constipation:
Distal constipation comes from a lack of muscle tone in the abdominal wall and causes incomplete evacuation of the rectum following defecation. This type is very common among women. It is closely related to pelvic floor dysfunctions since the weakening of the pelvic floor muscles can result in them not “pushing” as necessary for rectal evacuation. – Slow transit constipation happens due to lack of motility in the intestine, and we encourage you to consult with a specialist if you do not see changes after completing Bwom’s exercise plan.
Kegel exercises are well-known for strengthening the pelvic floor but the benefits they offer for improving constipation are rarely mentioned. And they’re so effective!
What do you think about this information? Did you know about the relationship between constipation and the muscles of the pelvic floor? If you suffer from chronic constipation, there’s no quick fix, but the good news is that the plan that we’ve prepared will help you become aware of your body and the reasons for your constipation so that you can change your habits and make it better. You can use this plan along with other treatments like laxatives, which are perhaps an effective short-term solution, but won’t fully resolve the issue.
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