Diaphragm And Pelvic Floor Breathing

You can further help facilitate pelvic floor muscle relaxation by practicing your belly breathing with different positions such as a deep squat or child s pose.

Diaphragm and pelvic floor breathing.

The anatomical link between the diaphragm psoas and the pelvic floor has been explored by gibbons in 2001 the diaphragm s medial arcuate ligament is a tendinous arch in the fascia of psoas major. It connects to the lower part of the ribcage. At the same time the abdominal muscles tighten a little bit and the muscles of the pelvic floor located between your pubic bone and tailbone lengthen a little bit. Re pelvic floor breathing no need to contract your pelvic floor unless you are doing pelvic floor exercises.

I think sometimes women get the message that they need to brace their pelvic floor muscles all the time in which case they run the risk of over bracing. The diaphragm and the pelvic floor have a pressure relationship. The levator ani the muscle of the pelvic floor and the diaphragm the main muscle of breathing are synergists they are designed to work together doing the same thing at the same time. These contribute to pelvic floor muscle hypertonicity which means there is excessive tension and tightness in these muscles.

When we breathe in the diaphragm flattens out and pushes on our abdominal contents stomach intestines bladder etc sending them down toward our pelvis. Proper breathing is incredibly important for healthy pelvic floor function. When the diaphragm is elevated the pelvic floor is elevated. When you inhale the diaphragm should drop increasing the space in the lungs and the pelvic floor drops as well.

On one side the diaphragm is in a lower position putting more pressure on the internal organs and the pelvic floor and exacerbating even more the slouched posture. On the other side there s a lack of mobility means that the breathing will be limited and the accessory breathing muscles mainly located around the neck will have to work. The first thing to understand why respiratory diseases affect the pelvic floor is to understand the relationship between breathing performed by the diaphragm and the pelvic floor. If we take a look at the pelvic floor anatomy again we can see that the pelvic floor muscles surround the openings of the urethra and anus.

Distally the psoas fascia is continuous with the pelvic floor fascia especially the pubococcygeus.