The Surprising Link: Bowel Issues and the Pelvic Floor

How Your Pelvic Floor is Related to Your Bowel Issues

Many bowel issues have one thing in common: your pelvic floor! Your pelvic floor sits at the bottom of your pelvis, supporting your bladder, bowels, and reproductive system. When your pelvic floor is impacted, it can affect your bowels in many different ways.

 

How Your Pelvic Floor is Involved in Pooping

Your pelvic floor plays an important role in using the bathroom. It controls your continence, both urinary and bowel, and is responsible for the passage of waste. The muscles stay tightened to keep waste inside and prevent leakage, and relax to let waste pass when you are in the bathroom.

 

When disruptions occur in this system, it can cause bowel issues, and impact other bodily functions. Issues like urinary leakage, bowel leakage, urinary and bowel urgency, and more can be linked to the pelvic floor. While these may be common, they are not normal, and you don’t have to just “live with it”. At V Strong Physical Therapy, we can help manage symptoms related to pelvic floor dysfunction.

 

What is Pelvic Floor Dysfunction? 

Pelvic floor dysfunction is a condition where you can’t properly coordinate the muscles in your pelvic floor to urinate or defecate. Normally, your body is able to relax the muscles to let the waste go. With pelvic floor dysfunction, the body keeps these muscles tight, causing bowel issues such as difficulty with urination or defecation.

 

Pelvic floor dysfunction can cause trouble with fully emptying your bladder or bowels, incontinence, and even pain with intercourse. It can present in many different ways, like frequent bathroom visits, straining to make a bowel movement, frequent stopping and starting with urination, and even low back pain. It can be caused by things like injuries, chronic straining to poop, prior pelvic surgery, pregnancy and childbirth, aging, and more.  

 

What’s Normal for Bowel Movements? 

What’s considered “normal” for bowel movements can be a bit different from person to person. Typically, any number between 3 times per week to 3 times per day is considered normal. Any amount less than 3 times per week is considered constipation. 

 

If you’re experiencing bowel issues such as constipation, there’s a few things you can try on your own to keep things moving. First, check your toileting posture. It helps to keep your knees above your hips, try a stool or squatty potty to get the right height. Take deep breaths and do not strain. You can also try a slow sniff through your nose. You can also slowly increase your fiber intake. You can read more about how fiber impacts your pelvic floor in our most recent blog post, here! The last two key factors are hydration and regular exercise. Staying hydrated and exercising regularly helps all of your body’s systems move smoothly.

 

How Can Pelvic Floor Physical Therapy Help My Bowel Issues?

Pelvic floor dysfunction, bowel issues, and other conditions with similar symptoms, can be managed with pelvic floor physical therapy! Working with a pelvic floor physical therapist can help manage things like constipation, urinary and fecal incontinence, pelvic organ prolapse, and more. 

 

At V Strong Physical Therapy, we pride ourselves on our holistic approach to pelvic floor care, looking at the whole body, and developing a personalized plan to help you alleviate symptoms and get back to life with confidence. 

 

Read more about V Strong Physical Therapy, and learn how pelvic floor physical therapy can benefit you. Book a consult call with our team to get started on your pelvic health journey today! 

 

vstrongphysicaltherapy.com

Works Cited

“Do You Have Pelvic Floor Dysfunction, or One of These Conditions?” Capitol Physical Therapy, 30 May 2025, capitolptdc.com/do-you-have-pelvic-floor-dysfunction-or-one-of-these-conditions/.