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5 common causes of tight pelvic floor muscles
05/12/2023
Are you struggling with getting a tampon inside? Does sex feel like burning, stinging pain? Or worse- does it feel like trying to hit a brick wall when you try to have penetrative sex? Have you tried doing exercises for a tight pelvic floor or painful sex but still seem to struggle?
If you have any of those symptoms or have to strain in order to poop, then this blog is for you! You are tired of getting frustrated with the constant need to go pee?
If you answered yes to any of these symptoms, you could be dealing with a tight pelvic floor. Down below, I'll discuss why this happens and what you can do to help!
Society and especially men have praised tight vaginas because it may feel great for them but on our end as women and honestly anyone who owns a vagina, tight pelvic floor muscles are not in our favor!
Tight pelvic floor muscles are not something anyone ever really wants in actuality. You don't want a tight neck. You don't want a tight back. You don't want tight hamstrings or hips. So...have you ever thought about why in the world women and people who have vaginas are going around bragging about their tight vagina? Tight pelvic floor muscles don't help us in ANY way! While we do need pelvic floor strength, muscle tone, and muscle control-tightness is dysfunction once that "tightness" goes beyond a certain point.
The reason why we've thought tight pelvic floor muscles were good for so long is because the world centers sexual pleasure around a man and his needs, never stopping to determine if tightness helps or hinders those of us who have a vagina.
As the owner of this company who treats vaginismus, sexual pain, incontinence and chronic vulvodynia, I can tell you that the #1 cause of pelvic floor dysfunction for both young women and older women, are pelvic floor muscles and vaginas that are too tight and unable to relax! It's not just painful sex that can happen when things are too tense down there. It's also prolapse, painful bowel movements, anorgasmia, and even urinary incontinence that can happen when our pelvic floor muscles do not have enough relaxation and flexibility.
So if you suspect that you're holding too much tension in your vah jay jay...then you may recognize some of these most common causes!
#1. Anxiety- The pelvic floor is an emotional organ! It's a muscle group that responds very quickly to danger, stress, and traumatic situations! So if you are frequently feeling anxious during the day or even have a diagnosed anxiety disorder, this will contribute to your pelvic floor muscles getting tense. Your pelvic floor wants to try and protect your body, prevent sexual attempts when you're under stress, and also protect your pelvic organs. So these muscles close and lift upwards during moments of anxiety. If you've experienced anxiety for a long time and think that you may have developed pelvic floor tightness as a result, learning how to release your pelvic floor muscles through movement and exercises are a HUGE help!
#2. Poor breathing habits- When you breathe in the best way, your ribs expand, your diaphragm contracts, and your pelvic floor muscles naturally get a brief stretch, allowing them to lengthen out and let go every time you breathe in. If you are instead, sucking your belly inwards or breathing in and letting most of the movement happen around your chest and shoulders, instead of your lower ribs and belly-then this will limit the amount of range of motion your pelvic floor gets. When you breathe in- your belly should expand. When you breathe out, your belly should fall right back down! Additionally, relax your vagina and your belly during the day. This can help you to access more pleasure, feel less pain during sex, and ultimately relax your pelvic floor muscles so they do their best work and prevent muscular fatigue!
#3. Hip pain and stiffness- Your hip muscles and your pelvic floor muscles blend together, sharing some of the same connective tissue! There is even a muscle inside your hip called the obturator internus that is inside of the pelvic bowl, hanging out super closely with all your pelvic floor muscles! When I do internal pelvic floor muscle exams on patients, I can actually directly touch their hip and access tender spots on their hip, just from being inside of the vagina! So if you have piriformis syndrome, hip pain, or hip stiffness-you want to work on that so that you're not driving sexual, bladder, and bowel dysfunction! By improving your hip function and even strengthening your hips, you can directly help to relax tight pelvic floor muscles!
#4. Poor posture- Oh man! I can not tell you how many patients and clients I've worked with who are struggling with sexual pain, vulvodynia, and constipation but have yet to realize that there posture is driving much of their struggles. I remember working with a young lady who had such intense burning and stinging around the opening of her vagina that she could not have penetrative sex with her partner due to the pain. When I first saw her, her upper back was rounded, one of her shoulders were higher than the other, and her pelvis was not symmetrical on both sides. After 6 weeks of working on posture primarily, she was able to return to penetrative intimacy with her partner and return to having pain free days without any vulvar pain at all! If your posture is poor, this can impact the position of the pelvis and put pelvic floor muscles, nerves, and fascia on strain. This can then drive pelvic floor muscle tightness, pain, and overall pelvic floor muscle dysfunction. Making small changes like scooting your butt all the way back in your chair instead of slouching, keeping your feet flat on the ground instead of criss cross apple sauce, and ensuring your computer or laptop is at the height of your eyes can truly help!
#5. Poor pelvic floor muscle awareness- This one is super common! You may be reading this now and not even realizing that you're clenching your anus and vagina! Un-clench. Let go. Breathe. Many of us also don't know how to contract or relax the pelvic floor. Some people squeeze their butt and think that's the pelvic floor! Others squeeze their inner thighs thinking they're engaging their pelvic floor! These are both wrong. All you need to do to contract and relax your pelvic floor is to squeeze your anus and vagina only as if you don't want to fart! Then let go all the way like you want to let it rip! Squeeze the anus. Relax the anus. Simple! When you squeeze your anus- you also squeeze the muscles that surround the vagina because they are connected and move together. So today and going forward, practice relaxing your anus and vagina completely as if you want a blueberry to fall out of your butt hole and vagina. Your pelvic floor will thank you for it and you'll feel soon the difference in your body!