Constipation and Pelvic Floor Physical Therapy: What's up with my poops?!
Constipation is this awfully uncomfortable thing that most people feel is genetic and entirely out of their control- and they are just stuck feeling like sh*t (pun intended!) Well, guess what? That is just not true!
It is true that there are some disease processes and medications that contribute to constipation, but if you are willing to put in the work, and it is work- there are a lot of things we can do to help you be more comfortable and get you pooping more easily, frequently, and painlessly.
There are two big contributing factors to constipation:
Colon transit time: how long it takes from the food you eat to be excreted as waste out of your bum
Pelvic floor mobility: the actual physical ability to poop out your poops correctly, yup ‘poop out your poops correctly’- you can quote me.
In regards to colon transit time, the best things physical therapists can advise is eating food to speed up your slower transit time ( this would be diagnosed by a MD via diagnostic testing). In regards to the latter: pelvic floor function- you guessed it, physical therapy!
Believe it or not, there is a right way and a wrong way to poop. If you think about your poop sitting in a pipe waiting to come out (pipe being rectum) and the pelvic floor being the gate, we must know how to open our ‘gate.’ In order to do that you must ensure that your pelvic floor muscles can relax, but also bare down to help expel your stool.
Makes sense? Yes? No? Maybe? Send me an email at karen@empoweryourselfpt.com.