Re pelvic floor breathing no need to contract your pelvic floor unless you are doing pelvic floor exercises.
Diaphragm and pelvic floor breathing.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Distally the psoas fascia is continuous with the pelvic floor fascia especially the pubococcygeus.
When the diaphragm is elevated the pelvic floor is elevated.
Proper breathing is incredibly important for healthy pelvic floor function.
Imagine the pelvic cavity is like a balloon in which both the top the diaphragm and the bottom the pelvic floor is domed together to form the balloon.
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.
The diaphragm and the pelvic floor have a pressure relationship.
When we breathe in the diaphragm flattens out and pushes on our abdominal contents stomach intestines bladder etc sending them down toward our pelvis.
It connects to the lower part of the ribcage.
Our primary breathing muscle is the diaphragm a dome shaped muscle which operates like a parachute.
These contribute to pelvic floor muscle hypertonicity which means there is excessive tension and tightness in these muscles.
When the diaphragm descends the pelvic floor descends.