What is a Tight Pelvic Floor?

There is so much confusion on whether or not to kegel. Many of us mamas were told at our 6-week check up to just do kegels and we should be fine.

Many of us mamas were brushed off with our symptoms of peeing our pants when sneezing, or feeling heaviness and pressure “down there." 

I hear it all the time-moms go to seek help about these embarrassing symptoms and when they finally open up about it they’re told “it’s normal just do kegels” or it’s straight to “there’s surgery for that.” 

The frustration on pelvic health and peeing your pants after birth to be “normal” is real. 

The first time I opened up about peeing myself was during a training for a high intensity choreographed class I wanted to teach at the local gym. 

I had to change myself midway through because, well, I peed. I finally decided to ask the other mamas in the class with me if they experienced the same. Some just laughed and said “yeah that’s normal” but one mama informed me it wasn’t, to this day she is a true angel. I was given hope that my condition wasn’t permanent. 

However I didn’t seek therapy right away. After teaching 1-2 times a week soaking myself down to my knees, wearing pads, going to the bathroom multiple times before class, limiting my drinks-nothing worked. 

The thing is neither would kegels. I didn’t need kegels! In fact, if I did more kegels I was going to make things much worse. I was diagnosed with a hypertonic as well as a hypotonic pelvic floor. My pelvic floor needed some internal massage and breath work to make it better. 

So let’s dive into today’s topic-Hypertonic Pelvic Floor (aka a tight pelvic floor) and why kegels aren’t working.

An Anatomy Overview

The pelvic floor muscles are the muscles that sit in and surround your pelvis, located between the tailbone and pubic bone. The pelvic floor is a complex network of muscles, ligaments, and connective tissues that provide support to the pelvic organs, including the bladder, uterus, and rectum.

They connect to other muscles in your body like the Transverse abdominals, psoas, glutes and hip flexors. When these muscles are weak or tight it can also impact the health of your pelvic floor

The group of muscles in the pelvic floor help with the squeeze connected with continence. It acts like a sling to hold and lift things up to prevent urine from leaking out. When the pelvic floor muscles are not functioning properly because of tension, they can’t do their job when stress is introduced to the area and urine leaks out.

What is a Hypertonic Pelvic Floor?

A hypertonic pelvic floor, or a tense/tight pelvic floor occurs when the muscles of the pelvic floor become overly tense and tight. Unlike a weakened or lax pelvic floor, which is often more widely recognized, hypertonicity involves excessive contraction of these muscles.

Hypertonic (Tight) Pelvic Floor Pelvic Floor - can be diagnosed officially with a pelvic floor physical therapist where they can do various tests to determine an official diagnosis. While the symptoms below will give us an idea of what state your pelvic floor is in- it is NOT a diagnosis. 

• Constipation
• Pain with penetration
• Symptoms can mimic UTI-if its negative, could be the tension in front
• Leaking with sneezing, jumping or coughing
• Feels like you can't get a good contraction, or it’s weak when you’re trying
• Difficulty getting a full deep breath
• Difficulty contracting
• If doing kegels and things get worse, very likely that your pelvic floor has too much tension
• SI joint, hip pain, deep butt pain can all be associated with pelvic floor tension 

Think of your bicep- if you held it up all day it doesn’t necessarily mean it's “strong,” you’ve created tension by holding and contracting the muscle to the point it’s inefficient. The same idea goes for your pelvic floor. Tension/tightness can be caused from a few things:

Chronic Stress - Prolonged stress can contribute to increased muscle tension throughout the body, including the pelvic floor muscles. Individuals experiencing high levels of stress may unknowingly tense their pelvic floor muscles, leading to hypertonicity.

Posture and Alignment Barriers:Poor posture and misalignment can cause imbalances in muscle tension, affecting the pelvic floor. Sedentary lifestyles and extended periods of sitting can contribute to the development of hypertonic pelvic floor. 

Glute clenching, holding in your gas, or holding up your pelvic floor in fear of feeling pressure or heaviness  can continue to create unwanted tension in the pelvic floor 

Physical trauma, such as childbirth or pelvic surgery, can lead to hypertonic pelvic floor. In some cases, the body responds to trauma by increasing muscle tension as a protective mechanism.

Let’s clarify that both a hypotonic (weak) pelvic floor and hypertonic (tight) pelvic floor can cause leakage when sneezing, coughing, running or jumping. 

Overview of hypertonic pelvic floor

Why Is It Important To Know If You Are Experiencing A Tight Pelvic Floor?

If you are one with a hypertonic pelvic floor you may want to limit or eliminate kegels as part of your strengthening plan and work on lengthening the muscles to eliminate the tension. If we continue to do kegels without lengthening, it may just make things worse and instead you’re taking two steps backwards. 

Doesn’t mean never do kegels, maybe for now you hold off and work on your stress. I love telling the mamas inside my EmpowerHER Program (fitness & nutrition for the busy mom) that reducing stress is not only important for fat loss but also very important for our pelvic floor health. One thing I recommend is daily meditation, journaling with a gratitude mindset or something else that helps to reduce your stress. 

​​Working with an internal physical therapist is a great way to release your pelvic floor internally. There are ways of course to do this on your own in the comfort of your home that a good PT friend of mine shares inside my CoreRevive program. 

However there are other things you can do to start working on lengthening. I incorporated some of these moves into my training program as part of my warm up and cool down to help down regulate the tension. 

Check out my 8-minute pelvic floor workout for tightness below:

Grab my FREE guide and course for moms with tight pelvic floor here. 👈

You'll get access to:

✔️The 3 part video series 

✔️A guide book with assessments & education on my 4 step method  

✔️PLUS a sample 2 week workout plan for Pelvic Floor Tightness.