Tips to Relax Your Pelvic Floor

[Heather34]

Hi all. In an earlier post, I wrote about clenching up while first beginning to dilate. Others have also experienced this and have written:

“I had to constantly keep telling myself to relax my body. Easier said then done, but it gets better! Tighten up your toes then relax them, tighten up your fist then relax them. Keep doing that throughout your body(while dilating). It always helped me!”

This is very helpful. I also found an excellent article from a pelvic floor physical therapist, Sara K. Sauder PT, DPT, that describes useful tips on Relaxing Your Pelvic Floor.

http://www.blogaboutpelvicpain.com/?p=1969

Excerpts include:

“Essentially, diaphragmatic breathing allows the diaphragm to expand. This brings in more blood flow and oxygen to the brain and all other tissues of the body. Diaphragmatic breathing forces the pelvic floor muscles to expand. So, if you can’t relax the muscles by sheer will alone, then you can relax them by diaphragmatic breathing.”

And

“And then there’s this – if you do not feel that you have control over relaxing the pelvic floor muscles, then take charge of what you do have control over. Think of all the muscles that you know can make the pelvic floor tense: the abdomen, quadriceps, gluts, hamstrings to be specific. Then think of the other muscles that make the pelvic floor tense, the muscles that do not seem so close to the pelvic floor muscles: the jaw, the shoulders, the neck. Oh, they’re not related to the pelvic floor? Well, I beg to differ, they actually are. If those muscles tense, the pelvic floor muscles tense too. Imagine someone grinding their teeth at night – the whole night long the grinding is also creating tension in the pelvic floor muscles. That means that you are clenching the vagina/penis/scrotum and the anus all through the night. So we can use this information to our benefit. Try to relax the muscles that effect the pelvic floor. Actively relax the abdomen, quadriceps, gluts, hamstrings, jaw, shoulders and neck. It will not only make your pelvic floor feel better, it will make your whole body feel better.”

And

“Make an appointment with yourself every day. For five minutes. Everyone has five minutes. Everyone. This is your five minutes to tune out the world and do something that calms you, something you love, something that makes you feel whole. For some patients this means being quiet. Others like to lie down and listen to music. Someone else might like to read….[w]hatever this thing is that you do for five minutes, it calms the nervous system. It helps balance your mind and your body. It’s relaxation – and this in turn relaxes the pelvic floor muscles. It’s the same concept as trying to relax your mind when you’ve got biofeedback electrodes on. When you’re chilling out, the biofeedback reading goes down flat, which is what you want. When you’re talking about crazy stuff and your mind is racing, the pelvic reading goes haywire. Though I don’t use biofeedback, I have pulled it out just to prove this point to my patients – the necessity of forced relaxation and how it will actually calm a tense pelvic floor.”

[Heather34]

Recently, Melissa had another great idea concerning relaxation tips and dilating. She wrote: “You can also try a warm bath before dilation. The warm water can help relax the vaginal muscles more.” Has anyone tried this prior to dilation or intercourse?