Pelvic Health & Orthopedic Physical Therapy
Addressing your questions about pelvic, women's, and musculoskeletal health. Health is a journey. Movement is healing!
What are you doing right now? Finishing up work, cleaning, getting ready for the next day? When was the last time you checked in with yourself?
It is so important to tune into your body's needs. Too often we get caught up in the chaos of the world and forget to nourish our bodies. When was the last time you thought about your pelvic muscles? Are they feeling tense? Perhaps they aren't tense, but you never stop to engage them. We don't connect with our pelvis very often. It is so important to build this connection between the mind and the muscles. Understand where your pelvic muscles are. If they feel elevated or tense it is important to engage relaxation and lengthening strategies. If they are feeling weak and lack engagement you need to work in more challenges to these muscles with strengthening. When was the last time you took a deep breath and truly filled your lungs? Place one hand on your chest and one on your belly. Are you breathing with just your chest? Can you fill the abdomen instead? Employing diaphragmatic breathing can help to mobilize your pelvic muscles and stimulate your parasympathetic nervous system to calm your body down. This is one of my favorite strategies to implement in traffic (no hands required once you get the technique). Hydration nation. WATER is crucial to your body and health. Not coffee and tea (though we may feel the need to drink lots of caffeine). No, soda and flavored water aren't the same. Your body loses lots of water throughout the day, but it also requires water to function. Water helps the bladder and gastrointestinal tract to function better. The bladder is covered in muscle. We have to drink lots of water to get the bladder to expand to its full capacity and empty fully throughout the day. If we consistently don't drink enough the bladder capacity can start to decrease. The GI tract also absorbs the fluid from the contents. So if we do not replace the water in our body, the material in the colon does not move as easily through the system. Lastly, MOVE. Move often! |
AuthorHello! I am Caitlyn, Doctor of Physical Therapy and Board Certified Women's Health Physical Therapist working in St Louis, Missouri. Faculty in developing residency program. Endowarrior Categories
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July 2021
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