5 Ways To Support Your Pelvic Floor

Your body asks a lot of you. From exercise and work, to lifting children, carrying groceries, managing stress, and showing up each day for the people and activities that matter most. Your body is constantly adapting, and quietly behind the scenes, one of the hardest-working systems supporting you through all of it is your pelvic floor.

The pelvic floor is a group of muscles, ligaments, and connective tissue that form a hammock-like sling on the bottom of our pelvis. Its key function is to support our bladder, bowel, and reproductive organs, maintain continence, and our sexual health. It helps us laugh without leaking, lift without pressure, and run without heaviness. 

And yet for something so important, most people are taught almost nothing about it.

All too often, women are told that leaking when you sneeze is ”just part of having kids.” That painful intercourse, constipation, heaviness, or low back pain are normal sacrifices of motherhood or being a woman. The truth is, while these symptoms may be common, they are not something you simply have to live with. 

Every day presents an opportunity to honor the body that carries you through life. Caring for your pelvic floor isn’t about perfection, bouncing back, or adding another overwhelming wellness task to your already full schedule. It’s about awareness, support, strength where you need it, and relaxation where you don’t. Let's give back to the body that has already given so much. 

Whether you are newly postpartum, years into motherhood, an athlete, navigating menopause, or simply wanting to move and feel your best, consider celebrating yourself by reconnecting with the foundation that supports you every day.

Here are five meaningful ways you can support your pelvic floor every day:

1. Breathe with intention

Your pelvic floor and diaphragm are best friends. When you breathe well, your pelvic floor moves well.

Try this: inhale through your nose, letting your ribs expand from all 360 degrees. Letting your pelvic floor melt into your seat. Exhale slowly, feeling a gentle lift through the pelvic floor.

This is one of the most underrated and powerful ways to reduce tension, leaking, and pressure.

2. Prioritize Relaxation

Not all pelvic floors are weak. Many are actually too tight. If you’re dealing with pain with intercourse, difficulty fully emptying, or hip and/or back pain your pelvic floor may need more down training, not more Kegels.

Try child's pose, deep squat holds, and gentle hip openers:

1. Childs Pose: Start on hands and knees, sit your hips back toward your heels, reach your arms forward, and relax your chest toward the floor while breathing deeply .

2. Deep Squat Holds: Hold onto a sturdy door frame, lower into a deep squat while keeping your heels down, sit your hips back, and gently use the frame for support as you breathe and relax into the stretch. 

3. Hip Openers: Start on hands and knees with one leg extended out to the side, keep your spine neutral, and gently rock your hips back toward your heel until you feel a stretch in the inner thigh.  

3. Move in ways that feel good

Movement has healing, preventative, and restorative powers. Instead of pushing through heaviness, pressure, or leakage try adjusting intensity, breathing strategies, and different positions. Your workouts should support your body, not fight against you. 

4. Don’t ignore the bathroom habits

Your daily habits matter more than you think. Some pelvic floor-friendly tips include: don’t push when you pee or poop, use a stool or squatty potty for bowel movements, and fully relax when you’re on the toilet. “Just in case,” peeing and straining can actually make symptoms worse over time.

5. Ask for help, you don’t have to guess!

So many women normalize symptoms like leaking, pain, pelvic heaviness/pressure, and constipation. These are extremely common, not normal. 

Working with a pelvic floor physical therapist can identify what’s actually going on, give you a clear plan, and help you feel confident in your body again. 

Taking care of your pelvic floor isn’t about adding more to your plate, it's about supporting the foundation that is supporting you. Give yourself permission to slow down, tune in, and take care of your body in a way that feels good.