Allergies & Pelvic floor dysfunction: How are they connected?

Are your allergies making your pelvic floor dysfunction worse?

Do you need extra pads or black leggings when you are enjoying the beautiful spring?

Spring is a time of beauty and allergies – but while you’re coughing all that pollen away, don’t forget to keep your pelvic floor in mind! Allergies can have unwelcome effects on the sensitive muscles down there. 

This blog post will discuss how to minimize allergy symptoms without straining your sensitive spot. Now let’s get ready to fight back against allergens – PELVIC POWER!!!

Let’s be honest: no one wants to walk around enjoying a beautiful day with soggy pads weighing down their purse and wet leggings sticking to them. There are better ways than that to make the most of your flower-admiring!

Coughing and sneezing may seem like harmless reactions, but they can actually cause stress to your pelvic floor muscles. When we sneeze or cough, a powerful rush of pressure is unleashed from deep within us that forces our bladder  to take one for the team!.

Our pelvic floor muscles are our bladder’s last line of defense, but sometimes they just don’t have the strength to keep their job. When that happens, we may experience a little surprise! You know it as stress incontinence – leakage when something puts pressure on your abdomen… like coughing,sneezing,running etc.

Allergies and colds can put extra strain on your pelvic floor muscles, but there are easy ways to help manage this additional load. Don’t let an irritated respiratory system stand in the way of keeping things running smoothly down below!

5 Tips on How to Minimize the Impact of Allergies on Your Pelvic Floor

As we all know it’s impossible to completely avoid allergens, there are ways to minimize the impact of allergies on your pelvic floor:

1.  Stay Hydrated

Many people come to see us with complaints of urgency (suddenly having a strong urge to urinate) or urinary leaking with sneezing, coughing, etc. They often tell us that, even though they try to drink less water, the leaking and urgency never seems to get better. In fact, decreasing water intake can make these problems worse.

Drinking enough water and staying hydrated is crucial in supporting pelvic health.

It is generally not recommended to reduce water intake in an effort to manage bladder leakage, as dehydration can actually exacerbate the problem. When the body is dehydrated, urine becomes more concentrated and can irritate the bladder, leading to more frequent and urgent urination, as well as potential leakage.

Instead, it is important to maintain proper hydration by drinking plenty of water throughout the day. This helps to keep urine diluted, reducing irritation to the bladder and decreasing the likelihood of leakage.

You should be drinking half of your body weight (in ounces) each day. 

2.   Try not to plug your nose

Instead, gently sneeze through your mouth and nose. Keep some extra tissues handy and use them to wipe your nose rather than plugging it with your fingers. When you plug your nose and mouth, pressure builds up in your pelvic floor. By sneezing through your mouth and nose, we can reduce that pressure. Using this technique can help reduce pressure in our pelvic floor – plus, there’s really nothing wrong with a bit of nasal discharge during sneezing sessions!

3.  The “Knack”

Try the ‘knack’ exercise: contract when there’s an increase in abdominal pressure – such as during coughing or sneezing.Remember to tighten and squeeze (almost like you’re picking up a blueberry through your anus) – this movement is known as the Knack.

Right before you feel a sneeze or cough coming on, try contracting your pelvic floor muscles as if you were trying to stop urine or gas, or as if you were picking up a blueberry with your vagina. This is called a pelvic floor contraction or Kegel exercise, and we need to train these muscles to activate automatically with a cough or sneeze.

4.  Pelvic Floor Exercises

Pelvic floor exercises can be effective in helping to reduce bladder leakage during activities such as coughing and sneezing. Bladder leakage happens when the muscles and tissues that support the bladder become weak or damaged, leading to involuntary leakage during physical activities.

In addition to using the Knack technique, strengthening your pelvic floor muscles with functional movements is essential for staying leak-free – even during activities like laughter, coughing, and lifting. To get the most out of these exercises, you need to be able to contract both abdominal and pelvic floor muscles while exhaling at the same time!

5. See a Pelvic health Physiotherapist  for pelvic floor dysfunction

Pelvic physiotherapy can help you with bladder leakage, as well as other pelvic issues. By working with a pelvic physiotherapist, you can learn exercises and techniques to strengthen and tone your pelvic floor muscles, improve bladder control, and regain confidence in your daily life.

Don’t let bladder leakage control your life any longer. Take the first step towards a better quality of life and book an appointment with a pelvic physiotherapist today.