2024 Pelvic Health New Years Resolutions
Forming good habits is a lifelong journey. Forming good habits for your pelvic floor? Even more so. In honor of New Years, we’re listing our 9 pelvic health New Years Resolutions to attain optimal pelvic health in 2024 and explaining why each of these habits help support your pelvis.
Want to know why pelvic floor physical therapists are obsessed with water, squatty pottys and lube? Want to learn how to modify your habits to take care of your bladder, bowels and sexual function in 2024? Keep reading!
2024 Pelvic Health New Years Resolutions To Achieve Optimal Pelvic Health Next Year
1. Drink more water
While water needs fluctuate based on the season and your activity level, general guidelines recommend drinking 50% of your bodyweight in ounces in water. For instance, if you weight 160 pounds, that means your recommendation is drinking 80 ounces of water per day.
It’s important to note that not all liquid is created equal. Drinks full of caffeine, carbonation and artificial sugar can irritate your bladder and contribute to symptoms like urinary leakage, urgency and pain. Being dehydrated contributes to these same symptoms. Feel like you have a small bladder? What you’re drinking and how much you’re drinking may be to blame!
Staying hydrated with plain old water can help soothe your bladder and reduce bladder symptoms. And just in case you really want to fall down the water rabbi holet, check out this blog post on how to drink your water for optimal hydration.
2. Unclench your butt
If you stop and ask yourself right now, can you unclench your butt? Can you unclench your anus? If the answer is yes, you may be a butt clencher! Butt clenchers are folks who walk around all day or during times of stress clenching their glutes, holding tension in their buttocks and their pelvic floor. The majority of the time people are completely unaware that this is a habit they possess and it’s one that takes consistent effort to break.
So what’s the problem with butt clenching? Your glutes are postural muscles. They do a lot to support your body as you move throughout the world. They take pressure off your back, support your pelvic floor and core and help hold you upright. But just like all postural muscles, they’re supposed to be able to turn on when you need them and off when you don’t. Any muscle staying clenched throughout an entire day will get tight and eventually painful. Just like how someone who grinds their teeth at night often develops jaw pain.
Because your glutes and pelvic floor fire together, clenching your glutes typically results in clenching your pelvic floor. For that reason, butt clenching over time can contribute to symptoms like tailbone pain, pain with sex and back pain. The solution? Unclench your butt! Relax your glutes every chance you get, every time you catch yourself clenching.
3. Stop sucking in your belly
I’m about to sound like a broken record, but if you ask yourself right now, can you relax your belly? Society has conditioned us to want a smaller stomach. High waisted pants that make it hard to sit and breathe have been in since I was in college and many of us (myself included) find ourselves sucking our belly in throughout the day with the goal of achieving a flatter belly appearance. For some folks this is a conscious effort, but for many of us this happens simply as a result of conditioning and habit.
Just like your glutes, your pelvic floor fires with your abdominals. And just like your glutes, your abdominals are postural muscles meant to turn on and off as you move throughout your life. Muscles don’t do well when they get caught in a stiff position over time. This stiffness actually makes them weaker, not stronger, limiting their ability to support you.
Also just like your glutes, the solution for the issue of sucking in your belly is also simple. As my good friend once screamed in my face, ♬♬ LET IT GO ♬♬. And then do it over and over again whenever you catch yourself sucking in.
4. Ditch the high-waisted pants
High waisted pants, particularly high waisted stiff denim or compression leggings, contribute to the common habit of sucking in your belly. Stiff, high waisted pants make it hard to fully expand as you breathe and when you limit expansion over time, eventually muscles lose the ability to fully stretch.
If you wear high waisted pants once in a blue moon, you go Glen Coco. But if you spend your days in stiff, high waisted pants, ditch those bad boys for something a little more forgiving. Your body and your pelvic floor will thank you.
5. Prop your knees up to poop
Ever heard of a squatty potty? These are game changers for people who struggle with constipation. All these adorable little stools do is lift your feet a little higher so your knees lift above your hips while you sit on the toilet. This squatty position allows for three big thing:
Your pelvic floor relaxes when in a deep squat. This position places stretch on your pelvic floor muscles, helping them move out of the way so you can empty your bowels with less effort.
It straightens out your rectum, reducing the amount of force required for stool to evacuate.
It reduces the need for pushing, allowing you to breathe as you poop instead of holding your breath and bearing down which creates stress on the pelvic floor. Chronic pushing contributes to symptoms like heaviness in the pelvis, urinary incontinence and even fecal leakage. Not pushing is the new not smoking. I mean, not really. I just don’t recommend either.
And if you don’t feel like buying a squatty potty, no worries. An old shoe box or the small trash can you keep next to the toilet will also do the trick. Depending on the height of your toilet, lifting your feet just a few inches can make all the difference.
Want more tips for feeling like a queen on the porcelain throne? Read this.
6. Pee when you have to pee; don’t pee just because.
Do you find yourself peeing before you leave the house “just because?” Or holding your pee for hours because you’re a camel and you can? Both of these habits hugely impact your bladder and it’s future function. Here’s how:
Your bladder walls are lined with something called mechanoreceptors. These are little receptors that sense stretch in your bladder as it fills. They’re the reason your bladder typically sends you the first signal that you may need to pee soon when your bladder is half way full, and also how you know it’s urgently time to go.
When you consistently pee before you really need to, you train those little receptors that your bladder capacity is just a fraction of your bladder’s total capacity. And when you hold your pee for hours once those receptors have given you the signal to go, you confuse them and they learn that they’re actually wrong. They stop telling you when your bladder is full because your brain teaches them that they’re wrong and you don’t actually need to go.
Once in a while, this is no big deal. But when you’re habitually doing either of these two things, symptoms like urinary leakage, frequency and urgency can develop as a result of mechanoreceptor confusion. As a general guideline, a well hydrated adult should urinate every 2-4 hours during the day and 0-1 times per night.
7. Get a good lube
Let’s talk lube and break down the three major categories of lubricants as well as the benefits and drawbacks of each:
Water based: Water based lubes are great for people with sensitive skin who just need a little additional lubrication. Water based lubrication is also easy to clean, safe to use with silicone toys. The downside? It absorbs quickly and can require frequency reapplication for longer sessions. Brand recommendation: Slippery Stuff.
Silicone based: Silicone based lubricant is an excellent choice because the lubrication lasts for a long time and doesn’t require reapplication. It’s extra slippery and people love how it feels. The downside? It can’t be used with silicone toys due to causing degradation in the material and it’s a little harder to clean up. Brand recommendation: Uber Lube.
Oil based: Oil based lubricant is another great choice for longer lubrication. It’s also easy to find and has the least amount of additives as you can just use olive oil or coconut oil. Pro tip - do not use the same container you cook with. Splurge on a brand new one used just for lube. The downside? It can stain your sheets and can’t be used with condoms.
Want more lube content? Here you go!
8. Use your good lube
Do you have pain with sex? Does your pain get worse over time? Or did it start after your baby was born, a long stint on oral contraceptives or menopause? There are a number of causes of pain with sex, including:
hormonal changes
scar tissue
medical causes
pelvic floor muscle restrictions
And it’s so important to talk to your medical provider if you’re experiencing new pain. But because the barrier to seeking and receiving help for sexual pain is high for many, trying a good lube is a harmless and easy place to begin. If lube solves your pain, amazing! If it doesn’t, don’t worry, there are so many other potential causes and available treatments for pain with sex. Start by talking to your OBGYN or scheduling an appointment with pelvic floor PT!
9. Call us to learn more about pelvic health!
Pelvic floor dysfunction shows up a number of ways. Some of the most common symptoms include:
urinary leakage
bladder pain
constipation
pain with sex
pubic bone or sacroiliac joint pain
tailbone pain
heaviness in the pelvic floor
painful periods
No matter how long you’ve been experiencing these symptoms, it’s never too late to seek care. Living with pelvic floor symptoms like these impacts all aspects of your quality of life. People with these symptoms tend to be less physically active, less socially involved and have higher levels of depression and anxiety. If you experience any of these, we’re here to help.
This post was written by Dr. Rebecca Maidansky, PT, DPT, owner and founder of Lady Bird Physical Therapy. Rebecca is a pelvic floor physical therapist in Austin, TX and founded Lady Bird Physical Therapy in 2019. She is the creator of Birth Preparation and Postpartum Planning, Baby Steps Fitness and the head writer and editor of The Pelvic Press.
Rebecca is a passionate writer and vocal advocate for pelvic health and the importance of improving access to perinatal care. She believes strongly that many common pregnancy pains and postpartum symptoms can be eased or even prevented with basic education and care.
She created this blog to help all birthing people manage common pregnancy pains, prepare for birth and recover postpartum.