Drink your water! Drink your water! Drink your water! Might as well make a bumper sticker out of that.
But I have to agree on the experts on this one. Water is important for every system in your body. Cardiovascular, nervous, digestive, reproductive, urinary, lymphatic, immune and skeletal system. The pelvic floor is part of the muscular-skeletal system and houses organs from the digestive, reproductive and urinary system. Water is extremely important for function and healing of the Pelvic Floor. In this blog post I will go over 5 reasons why you can't ignore water when you are suffering from Pelvic Floor dysfunctions. You can also read my free ebook titled '5 bad habits that can harm your pelvic floor' to learn more about the pelvic floor and 5 everyday habits that can harm it.
First let’s review the term Pelvic Floor Dysfunctions.
Pelvic floor dysfunctions are caused due to weak and/or tight pelvic floor muscles. This can lead to conditions such as urinary incontienece, pelvic organ prolapses, painful sex, overactive bladder or back and tail bone pain.
The pelvic floor houses the reproductive, urinary and digestive system organs. So a dysfunction in the pelvic floor muscles can compromise how these three systems work in our body.
Now let us go over 5 ways how water can really benefit our pelvic floor.
1. Healing. We need water to help heal our body especially after surgery and/or after having a baby. Our body needs to heal scar tissue such as perineal scar from tearing and C-section or hysterectomy scars. Our body also needs to heal muscles and ligaments that were stretched out during pregnancy such as abdominal muscles, pelvic floor muscles and uterus. However, if the body is dehydrated it is difficult for the body to repair tissue due to lack of blood circulation, poor lymph drainage and poor tissue mobility.
Increasing water increases the blood flow and circulation to tissues. Increased blood flow to an injured pelvic floor and scar tissue helps deliver the required nutrients for healing.
Scar tissue massage is an important part of pelvic floor healing. However, if the skin and tissue is dehydrated, it is difficult to move the scar tissue around to massage. In fact it is more painful to massage and can easily get irritated which makes the scar tissue worse. Water makes the skin and fascia more mobile so you can massage the scar tissue and prevent adhesion.
2. Bladder control. Yup. Some people find it shocking but if you have urinary urgency, incontience or other bladder related issues, reducing water will actually make it worse.
Dehydration makes your urine concentrated which is irritating to the bladder. An irritated bladder would result in more urgency and/or frequency of urination.
Also bladder is a muscle and to make a muscle stronger you have to stress it. Use it or loose it. If you don’t stress your bladder it will become weak and unable to hold larger volumes of water. Which means more trips to the washroom.
Drinking water stresses the bladder by stretching it and strengthens the muscles that prevent urine from leaking. If you don’t drink enough water you will never put enough stress on the bladder, making it prone to incontienence and urgency.
I talk more about bladder control in my free ebook ‘5 bad habits that could be harming your pelvic floor’.
3. Infection. We are pretty familiar with the idea of drinking a lot of water to flush out the bladder when someone suffers from bladder infection. Well drinking enough water will help prevent bladder infection. When we don't drink enough water, urine sits in the bladder for a long period of time. Concentrated urine in the bladder harbors and grows bacteria. We want to be constantly flushing the bladder to prevent the bacteria from existing and not give them a chance to thrive. So if you are prone to bladder infection start drinking that water.
4. Constipation. Constipation, especially chronic constipation is definitely not good for the pelvic floor. When you are constipated you bare down on the toilet. This is called a valsava maneuver. Baring down increases the pressure inside the abdominal cavity where our abdominal organs sit. This increased pressure in the abdomen transfers down into the pelvic floor region. This pressure over time causes the pelvic floor organs to drop down resulting in a pelvic organ prolapse. Pelvic organ prolapse can be falling of either the bladder, rectum, uterus and/or cervix into the vaginal wall or worse, out of the vaginal opening.
Drinking enough water through out the day along side a healthy fiber rich diet can prevent constipation and hence lower the risk of pelvic organ prolapse.
5. Muscles and nerves. Muscles and nerves function well when the body is well hydrated. Not only is the pelvic floor made up of muscles but the bladder and uterus is a muscle itself. In order for a muscle to contract and relax effectively, water is necessary. Muscle cramps and muscle fatigue are caused by dehydration. So dehydration can contribute to pelvic floor muscle spasms and pelvic floor muscle fatigue/weakness. Tight and weak pelvic floor muscles is what causes pelvic floor dysfunctions such as painful sex, incontinence and pelvic organ prolapse.
During and after pregnancy, muscles, tendons and ligaments are stretches out. This includes the abdominal muscles and pelvic floor muscles. Overly stretched and lengthened muscles are weak and inactive. After childbirth, rehabilitation is necessary to prevent low back pain and pelvic floor dysfunctions. During rehab of these muscles hydration is necessary. A dehydrated muscle contraction will be weaker and harder to hold for long. Poor muscle endurance can lead to pelvic floor dysfunctions or make existing pelvic floor dysfunctions worse.
So in summary, Drink Your Water!
Water has the potential to prevent and heal pelvic floor dysfunctions. With combination of a good diet, exercises, healthy habits, usage of essential oils and water, you can prevent years of suffering and unnecessary unsuccessful surgeries.
We women work so hard all our life. The least we deserve is a pain free, poise free, healthy retirement. But it all starts with self care. Love yourself. Love your pelvic floor. Remind yourself that you are a priority to yourself. Not tomorrow. Not next week. TODAY!
Grab my 30 Day Water Intake tracking sheet. Make it a fun challenge!
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