Why Breath Matters
Your breath is a huge piece of the puzzle when it comes to improving pelvic floor health. First, lets understand how your breath connects to your pelvic floor.
Your diaphragm and your pelvic floor move in parallel with one-another. When you inhale, your diaphragm drops and your pelvic floor drops at the same time. When you exhale your diaphragm lifts and your pelvic floor lifts, too. This natural excursion of movement should happen without us even thinking about it.
Try to take a few deep breaths and see if you can notice the movement!
Beyond that, your breath also causes movement through your ribcage and abdominals. As you inhale, your ribcage expands laterally and your belly pushes out. This 360 degree movement is important for healthy breathing patterns, movement and managing increases in pressure.
Place your hands on the sides of your ribcage, can you feel expansion here as you inhale? Place your hand on your belly, can you feel it push out into your hand as you inhale?
Next, let's understand what intra-abdominal pressure (IAP) is.
IAP is defined as the steady state pressure contained within the abdominal cavity. Your bodies IAP increases when we cough, sneeze, laugh, jump, lift, run or hold our breath.
The ability of our system to expand 360 degrees is what allows us to absorb and disperse these increases in pressure. I like using the analogy of a trampoline with my patients. If you were to drop a bowling ball on a trampoline, vs. a concrete floor, which one do you think would absorb that pressure better? A trampoline, obviously. And the reason why, is because the trampoline can stretch (expand). Let's help our system work more like a trampoline than a concrete floor!
An indicator that you are not managing this pressure well can look like back pain, pelvic organ prolapse, leaking pee, diastasis recti and uncontrolled flatulence, just to name a few.