A hypertonic pelvic floor is overactive and difficult to relax. These muscles are tense and tight and have limited ability to expand and contract normally. Not only is tightness the name of the game with a hypertonic pelvic floor, tension can travel to your hips, back, and hamstrings.
The pelvic floor has important functions! Childbirth, intercourse, supporting your abdomen and bladder just to name a few. With a tight and tense pelvic floor in play, pain can arise during intercourse, going number two, or during your menstrual cycle.
Symptoms of a hypertonic pelvic floor include:
- Constipation
- Difficulty passing stools
- Frequent need to urinate
- Feeling as though your bladder is not empty
- Painful intercourse
- Pain when inserting a tampon
If your pelvic floor dysfunction is due to a tight pelvic floor try our favorite moves to relax, expand, and loosen.
- Happy Baby Pose – laying on your back fully extending your spine straight from tailbone to top of head along the floor, lift legs overhead, opening legs with knees bent as if to hold a medicine ball between. Keeping your tailbone stamping the ground, use your arms to cradle your legs holding at the calves with forearms and hands facing you. Gently apply pressure downward on your calves with your arms to open.
- Diaphragmic Breathing – filling the belly with air, and feeling it expand with a hand placed on your lower abdomen, breathe out your nose as your stomach draws in expelling air slowly through your nose.
- Figure-4 Stretch – laying on the ground bring one leg to bended knee with foot still on the ground. Bring the other leg, bending, ankle to opposite knee. The foot that is resting on the opposing lower thigh should have toes activated and drawing toward the knee. Use one hand to apply gently pressure to leg resting on bent leg still on ground.
