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Pelvic Floor Muscles & Periods

Psst... these muscles are just as important as your quads.

By Emily the Period RDPublished 2 years ago 3 min read
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Pelvic Floor Muscles & Periods
Photo by Sasun Bughdaryan on Unsplash

My special focus in period health and wellness is definitely nutrition, but I’ll let you in on a little secret… I do a significant amount of referring to my pelvic health colleagues. We work together on many cases to ensure our clients have less painful periods and can create a stress-free cycle overall.

And we collaborate across the lifespan – painful periods in the teen years, to pregnancy health, to menopause management! Pelvic floor physiotherapists can conduct internal and external exams to identify specific concerns and treatment schedules for each person.

So what’s the deal with the pelvic floor, and why is it so important?

The pelvic floor muscles are located between the tailbone and the pubic bone – they’re like a hammock of muscles that support the bowels, bladder, and the uterus and vagina. There are additional muscles that circle around the vagina, urethra and anus as they pass through the pelvic floor itself – these smaller groups are still incredibly important as they can impact the function of each structure they are wrapped around.

Before we get into their functions when it comes to periods, let’s chat other muscular jobs of the pelvic floor - these come into play when it comes to menstruation.

The bowels use the pelvic floor muscles to push stool out of the body, as well as stop stool from leaving the body. This is important for regular bowel movements and the prevention of incontinence. When these muscles are weak or overly tight, constipation, diarrhea, and bloating can be common symptoms. Treatment includes a combination of muscle training as well as adjusting other lifestyle factors such as fibre and fluid intake, eating regularity and adequacy and bathroom hygiene to promote muscle relaxation and contractile strength.

The bladder uses the pelvic floor muscles in a similar way as the bowels – to start and stop the flow of urine! When these muscles are weak or overly tight, urination may be painful, overly frequent or incontinent. Again, pelvic floor physiotherapists are saints to support folks in making bladder muscles stronger and healthier throughout the lifespan (including after pregnancy and during menopause). This might include bladder training, addressing both inadequate and excess fluid intake, and minimizing possible triggers.

Now let’s get into the good stuff – pelvic floor muscles and periods! The pelvic floor muscles have the same supporting role for the uterus and vagina – they help the vagina expand when necessary, hold the uterus in place, and promote muscle contractions. These muscles are responsive to the hormone estrogen, meaning their strength can fluctuate over a cycle. It’s common for the pelvic floor muscles to feel slightly weaker or fatigued during a period, when hormone levels overall are lower. This can explain why constipation may occur before a period starts, or why looser “period poops” happen.

When the pelvic floor muscles are out of sync in their contraction patterns, are too tight or too weak this can impact how painful a period might be. It can be helpful in addressing pain with cramping by learning how to engage and relax the pelvic floor muscles and those in the lower back and abdomen.

There are situations where period pain needs additional investigation, such as endometriosis and adenomyosis. These are chronic conditions that can impact the muscles surrounding the uterus, and are additionally influenced by estrogen over a cycle. Pain levels may be high at any particular point during a cycle, but can increase in severity in the time immediately before a new period starts. These conditions still benefit from pelvic floor therapy, but need extra support often by way of medications or possible surgeries.

Chatting with your health care provider and sharing any notes you have about your cycle can be a helpful way to guide treatment plans.

Enjoy this post? Leave a tip – it helps support my research and writing in period wellness!

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About the Creator

Emily the Period RD

I help people with periods navigate menstrual health education & wellness with a healthy serving of sass (and not an ounce of nutrition pseudoscience).

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