Do you ever get back from a run and your pants are soaked in pee because you couldn’t hold it? 💦 I don’t mean because you didn’t want to stop or didn’t have a place to stop; I mean because you couldn’t control the pelvic floor muscles and your bladder!
🫁As we increase mileage or hit our last miles, we tend to become more fatigued, and our breathing moves from our belly to our chest. This doesn’t allow for proper oxygenation to the pelvic floor muscles and increases our intra-abdominal pressure. (Think adding more air or pop into an already full pop can and having it almost burst)
Problems from an increase in pressure:
❗️Pelvic floor (PF) muscles can lose control and lead to pants peeing.
❗️Pressure down onto pelvic organs, causing a potential risk for pelvic organ prolapse.
❗️PF fighting against the pressure becomes tighter and more painful.
❗️Lack of motor control and strength of PF.
❗️Lack of pelvic stability could lead to poor mechanics or muscle compensations and pain.
Even if you aren’t experiencing the pants peeing right now, take some inventory of how your body feels next time you run—are your shoulders and neck relaxed, or are you clenching your jaw? If you are experiencing tightness and clenching in those areas, it can also indicate pelvic floor tightness.
Some tips to prevent pants peeing when running:
❇️practice belly breathing while not running so you are already good at it before running.
❇️practice PF contraction/relaxation when you aren’t running.
❇️add dynamic movement exercises with PF control into your cross-training.
❇️when running, try to relax shoulders and neck as tension in that area makes you more prone to chest breathing.
Want to learn more about the pelvic floor and how it plays a role in running, or are you having issues with this already? Call or text us at 319-290-3436 or learn more at http://www.reviveptwaukee.org/! We would be honored to be part of your fitness journey!
Recent Comments