The pressure in your abdomen shouldn’t increase too much. You can develop a lot of issues when your abdominal pressure is imbalanced. You are already at risk of developing issues when your breathing pattern is off or when you are performing heavy duty tasks. You can experience prolapses or incontinence issues when your pelvic floor muscles can’t carry the pressure anymore. Once you’re done reading the article below, I want to advise you to also take a look at my pelvic floor exercises on the Exercising page.

Keeping the abdominal pressure low prevents a lot of issues

Abdominal pressure means the level of present pressure in your abdomen. This pressure increases throughout the day during different moments, even if those different moments are brief, they can already have an influence on your abdominal pressure. Think of coughing and laughing, but also of jumping, lifting something heavy or pushing on the toilet. These are movements or actions that will increase your abdominal pressure, for a short moment or for a longer duration. There’s also a huge chance that your abdominal pressure will already increase by simply holding your breath. Think of when you’re pushing on the toilet or when you’re giving birth. When you’re pushing, either on the toilet or during childbirth, the intention is to let something go through the pelvic floor. But your pelvic floor is busy with preventing something to unwantedly snap out at the same time. An increased abdominal pressure causes a lot of pressure to be put on the pelvic floor muscles. You can decrease the abdominal pressure and the pressure on the pelvic floor muscles by continuing to breathe properly. That’s why women puff a lot during giving birth.

If you’re looking for pelvic floor exercises or go to the exercises page. If you’re looking for products for your pelvis and go to the Pelvic Store. 

It’s important to know how you can keep the abdominal pressure low. Let’s take a look at some tips and advices about keeping the abdominal pressure low.

Hopefully you will start working on your issues so that you can decrease your issues or prevent future issues. If you’re looking for more information, feel free to take a look at the rest of the website. It’s filled with in-depth information, tips and also exercises when it comes to issues or problems in and around the pelvis.

This is what you want to know about your abdominal pressure

So what is abdominal pressure exactly? The abdominal pressure is the pressure in your abdomen. This pressure can increase or be evenly distributed. Your abdomen is a closed off area. The present pressure won’t suddenly disappear. Think of a lunch bag filled with air. If you press on the bag the pressure inside will increase and the bag will be tighter. This is the same case for your abdomen. There will be more pressure during exertion. Every action that requires some physical effort and causes you to hold your breath increases your abdominal pressure. Think of opening a jar of jam, pushing on the toilet, laughing, coughing, standing up, sitting down, carrying grocery bags, or lifting a heavy object.

Recognize your abdominal pressure with a few handy tips

I’m sure you recognize the feeling of pressure rising to your head. You’ve been pushing that hard that your face becomes red. This is a good rule of thumb to recognize the presence of increased abdominal pressure. This increase isn’t beneficial for your abdominal pressure. It effects the head, the abdomen, the lower abdomen and the pelvis. The whole pelvic area will have to carry a whole lot more weight.

I’m sure you’ve stumbled upon a video of a bodybuilder that lets out a loud fart when he’s lifting something heavy, or that he even needs to vomit. Farting proves that your pelvic floor muscles are succumbing to the additional forces.

Your pelvic floor muscles need to be capable to catch the increasing abdominal pressure. You can develop organic prolapse or fecal/urinal incontinence issues if your pelvic floor muscles have been weakened by a continuous increased abdominal pressure. I’ve collected a few handy tips and tricks you can use to prevent the abdominal pressure from increasing too much.

This is how you feel the abdominal pressure

Let the abdominal pressure increase and press down on your lower abdomen. Slowly let the air flow away instead of holding all that air. Exactly. This way you let off some steam in the abdomen which will decrease the pressure on the pelvis. Think of puffing during giving birth, it’s the same story. Puffing also decreases the pressure on your pelvis which causes your muscles to relax enough to be able to guide the baby out. It’s crucial to continue to breathe when your abdominal pressure increases. Place your hands on your abdomen and breathe towards them.

A healthy pelvic floor is immune to increasing abdominal pressure

It’s not worrisome that the abdominal pressure increases sometimes. A healthy pelvic floor can carry this pressure with ease. But if that isn’t the case, very simple daily tasks may become a negative experience. Your abdominal pressure will already increase while you breathe in, bend over, squat, push, blow your nose, sneeze, laugh, push up, jump, jog and walk. You can imagine that it’s nice if you were able to continue doing all of this without any issues, especially the breathing part. Normally your pelvic floor area provides enough stability and the sealing off of the anus and urethra during those activities. However, every additional pressure will be too much when your pelvic floor muscles are weakened which can cause you to develop incontinence issues.

Prevent the overload of your pelvic floor

Overload of the muscles and ligaments of the pelvis is around the corner when your abdominal pressure has been disturbed. A chronic overload can sometimes cause to lasting damage, and that’s the last thing that you want. Think of incontinence issues, prolapses, obstipation, pain issues in and around the pelvis and sexual issues.

Six tips for a healthy pelvic floor

Whether you already have pelvic issues or you want to prevent pelvic issues and other problems, it’s always smart to keep your abdominal pressure in mind. I’ve collected a few handy tips which you can apply to keep your abdominal pressure under control.

Six tips for keeping a healthy pelvic floor:

Tip 1: Become aware of your pelvic floor muscles.
Check if you can tense up and relax your pelvic floor. Try it by holding up your urine or by retracting the anus. And especially release it. Now you at least know where the pelvic floor muscles are located.

Tip 2: Feel what’s happening in your pelvis.
Do you feel a change in your pelvis whenever you cough or laugh? If I’m correct, you can feel your anus and vagina move along. You can also feel your abdominal pressure shortly and quickly increase during those small movements.

Tip 3: Tensing up brings stability.
Try to tense up your pelvic muscles whenever you laugh or cough. You do this by acting as if you’re holding up urine or feces. Things are moving up and down way less now, right? That’s how you provide some stability for your pelvis while the pressure on your muscles increases.

Tip 4: Tensing up the pelvic floor while in movement.
Now try to do the above while you’re moving. Lift something up. First without tensing up the pelvic floor, and then while tensing up the pelvic floor. Do you feel the difference? And can you also feel the difference between lifting something up that requires effort while you aren’t breathing and when you’re lifting something up while you are breathing? If I’m right, you can!

Tip 5: Decreasing abdominal pressure through breathing.
Try to tense up your pelvic floor while you’re lifting something up and also while you’re breathing continuously. This probably already is a bit harder, however your abdominal pressure will be low and the stability in your pelvis will be high.

Tip 6: Apply this technique during high intensity.
Now you can also continuously breathe during working out or while performing other activities while still tensing up your pelvic floor. This way you will become a strong and stable fortress that’s ready for any unexpected move!

Getting the hang of your abdominal pressure and pelvic floor by doing pelvic floor exercises

There are a lot of exercises waiting for you in case it’s necessary to continue to exercise your weakened pelvic floor. I have also prepared a few relaxing exercises for when you have an overactive or overloaded pelvic floor. Feel free to take a look at the exercises. These will help you out a lot already.

If these exercises aren’t the thing for you, you can always look for a specialized pelvic therapist. These are specialized therapists that can provide you with a variety of tips and advices for your pelvis. Think of the pelvic physical therapist or the pelvic practitioner.

Once you got the hang of it, you will be a true pelvic expert! You may also be able to get more in-depth when it comes to (strength) exercises. Relaxation exercises can come a lot in handy as well. Try to relax after tensing up. For your own peace of mind, get in touch with a specialized pelvic therapist when you need to have surgery. These therapists are able to guide you right back into medical rehabilitation.

And lastly, are you looking for more information?

Hopefully this information was useful to you! If you’re still looking for some more information, feel free to take another look around on the website. It’s filled with in-depth information, tips, a web shop and also exercises. I still have a lot of articles with lots of information about other symptoms and issues. Feel free to click on the blue words to take you straight to the right page.