3 Everyday Habits That Secretly Harm Your Pelvic Floor
Part One: Signs My Pelvic Floor is Dysfunctional
Part Two: How to Tell if My Pelvic Floor is Tight or Weak
Part Three: The Real Cause of Pelvic Floor Dysfunction
Part Four: 3 Everyday Habits That Secretly Harm Your Pelvic Floor
Part Five: Can Pelvic Floor Dysfunction Be Cured? Here's What Actually Works
Do you find yourself holding your breath when concentrating, sitting at a desk for hours a day, or rushing through bathroom trips? Most women don't realize that many of their daily habits silently contribute to pelvic floor dysfunction. You might be careful during workouts, but what about the other 23 hours of your day? These seemingly harmless habits could be setting the stage for bladder leaking, pelvic pain, and other issues.
Breathing Patterns That Put Pressure on Your Pelvic Floor
Did you know that the way you breathe throughout your day directly impacts your pelvic floor health? Most women breathe in a way that creates constant downward pressure on their pelvic floor.
Here's what's happening:
When you breathe primarily into your belly (which most women do), your diaphragm only moves down. Instead of the rib cage expanding with each breath, as the diaphragm moves laterally (side to side), the rib cage doesn't expand at all, and the diaphragm just stays low and tight because it only ever moves down. This creates a constant downward push on your abdominal organs, lowering them. When the abdominal organs are in a lower position, they press down on your pelvic floor muscles, compressing them and depriving them of blood flow.
Signs you might be breathing incorrectly:
- Your belly expands when you inhale
- Your shoulders rise at the very beginning of your inhale
- Your rib cage doesn't expand with each breath
- You frequently sigh, yawn, or feel short of breath
- You hold your breath during stress or concentration
- You find yourself breathing shallowly and rapidly
Every single breath matters. With approximately 20,000 breaths per day, improper breathing creates thousands of moments of unnecessary pressure on your pelvic floor. This constant pressure forces your pelvic floor to stay contracted to resist it, creating the perfect recipe for dysfunction.
Posture and Sitting Habits That Strain Your Pelvic Floor
The average woman sits for 6-8 hours daily, often in positions that directly stress her pelvic floor. Sitting in poor posture is one thing, but sitting in poor posture for hours upon hours each day is a whole other thing. Your pelvic floor can rebound from sitting for short periods, however, sitting for long periods really deprives your pelvic floor of blood flow and will inhibit optimal core muscle activation, leading to all sorts of problems.
When you sit with your pelvis tucked under (that slouched position most of us default to), you're:
- Inhibiting nerve flow to your pelvic floor
- Compressing your pelvic floor muscles and depriving them of blood flow
- Lowering your pelvic organs and depriving them of proper blood flow as well
- Preventing your diaphragm from being able to move properly
- Creating too much pressure in your abdomen leading to muscular dysfunction
This sitting posture puts your pelvic floor in a position where it can't function correctly. The muscles become compressed and strained, trapped in a position that doesn't allow them to contract and relax naturally.
Even worse, many women compound this problem by:
- Crossing their legs, which creates uneven tension in the pelvic floor
- Perching on the edge of chairs, which increases pelvic floor tension
- Breathing into their bellies, leading to restricted rib cage motion and more pressure
- Holding tension in their glutes and pelvic floor all day
These seemingly minor posture habits create a cumulative effect, gradually leading to pelvic floor muscle spasm and dysfunction over time.
Bathroom Habits That Weaken Your Pelvic Floor
Your bathroom routines might be the most damaging daily habits you've never thought about. How you empty your bladder and bowel has a huge impact on how healthy your pelvic floor muscles are.
Many women:
- Push or strain when urinating or having a bowel movement
- Hover over public toilets instead of sitting
- Go "just in case" before leaving the house
- Rush through bathroom visits and have poor bladder hygiene
- Delay going when they feel the urge
These bathroom habits disrupt your bladder's natural filling and emptying cycles and create dysfunctional habits in your pelvic floor muscles.
When you hover over the toilet, your pelvic floor muscles stay contracted instead of relaxing to allow complete emptying. Over time, this teaches your pelvic floor to stay tight when peeing, rather than moving through its full range of motion to open and allow for full and complete voiding.
Going "just in case" might seem prudent, but it actually trains your bladder to signal when it's only partially full, creating a cycle of frequency and urgency. Your bladder should fill completely before signaling urgency, but when it's always emptied before its full, the threshold for that urgency sensation will lower, and you will get urgency at lower bladder volumes.
Pushing or straining creates intense downward pressure that your pelvic floor must resist. This pressure can gradually stretch and weaken the connective tissue (fascia) in your pelvic floor, contributing to prolapse and incontinence over time. You can learn more details about this nasty habit and how to fix it here.
How The Core Recovery Method® Can Help Change These Habits
The good news is that these damaging habits can be unlearned, and your pelvic floor can be healed and full function can be restored through simple daily practices that are incorporated into your life.
The Core Recovery Method® helps you overcome these habits by:
- Teaching you proper breathing techniques that create a balanced pressure system in your core, relieving pressure from your pelvic floor with every breath you take. This new breathing pattern becomes automatic over time, transforming those 20,000 daily breaths into moments of healing.
- Guiding you to optimal sitting postures that allow your pelvic floor to function naturally as the pump that it is! You'll learn how to position your pelvis, breathe appropriately, and release unnecessary tension while sitting, immediately reducing strain on your pelvic floor, and allowing you to finally heal.
- Establishing healthy bathroom habits that support your pelvic floor function. You'll learn how to properly relax your pelvic floor for complete emptying, how to sit for optimal alignment, and how to retrain your bladder's natural filling and emptying cycles.
These simple habit changes, practiced consistently through The Core Recovery Method®, create profound improvements in pelvic floor function. Many women notice changes within days of implementing these new patterns.
The best part is that these changes don't require adding more to your already busy day—they simply transform the habits you already perform many times daily. By changing how you breathe, sit, and use the bathroom, you're addressing the root causes of pelvic floor dysfunction in a sustainable way that fits seamlessly into your life.
