Breathing and Your Pelvic Floor
At Foundations Pelvic Health’s Boston clinic, our pelvic floor physical therapists talk a lot about breathing. Let’s break it down and talk about why it’s such an important part of pelvic health!
Your breath and your pelvic floor are teammates — they work together as part of your body’s “core canister.
Your core canister has four walls:
Top: your diaphragm (the main breathing muscle)
Bottom: your pelvic floor
Sides: your deep abdominal and back muscles
When everything in working in sync, they help you move with strength, stability, and ease. When they’re out of sync, that may contribute to symptoms such as leaking, pelvic heaviness, or discomfort with movement.
The Diaphragm
The diaphragm is an umbrella-shaped muscle that lives just under your ribcage. When you inhale, it moves downward, making space for your lungs to fill with air. This movement naturally increases pressure inside your core canister. As you exhale, your diaphragm moves upward to help you get the air out.
The Pelvic Floor
Think of your pelvic floor as the base of that canister. As the diaphragm drops during an inhale, the pelvic floor responds by gently lowering or relaxing to accommodate the pressure. When you exhale, it naturally returns to its resting position.
(Inhale → pelvic floor lowers. Exhale → pelvic floor lifts upward.)
Your pelvic floor doesn’t just respond to breathing, as it also plays a huge role in stabilizing your body during movement. Check out what else your pelvic floor does in this blog post!
Your Abdominals and Back
Your deep abdominal muscles (like your transverse abdominis) and your back muscles (especially the multifidi muscles along your spine) help keep everything stable. As you breathe, your abs expand slightly, your back muscles support your posture, and all of these parts communicate with your pelvic floor and diaphragm.
When the System Gets Out of Sync
Because every part of the core canister works together, trouble in one area can create problems elsewhere. For example:
Overactive or tight pelvic floor muscles can’t drop well during an inhale, which may increase downward pressure. This can contribute to leaking, pelvic pain, or prolapse.
Stiffness in your lower back can alter how pressure is distributed, which may affect your pelvic floor or abdominal wall.
Learning how to coordinate your breathing, core, and pelvic floor muscles can help immensely with your pelvic health.
Putting it all together:
Your breath isn’t just about getting oxygen — it’s a tool for pelvic health, core strength, and whole-body stability. That’s why, in pelvic floor PT at our Boston clinic, our pelvic floor PTs spend time helping you connect your breathing with your movement. When your core canister is working in harmony, you feel stronger, more supported, and more in control.
How can Foundations Pelvic Health help?
We believe in the importance of assessing the whole body, as well as movement and function!
Your whole body is connected and your pelvic floor does not work in isolation, meaning that everything affects everything else. Our pelvic floor physical therapists will help you determine how your breathing and pelvic floor is contributing to your symptoms and will work with you through a whole-body lens to get you back to doing the activities you love.