While you hear “pelvic ground,” likelihood is, you suppose Kegels, or these notorious workouts usually described as what you’d have to do to select up a blueberry with…your vagina. And it’s true: Doing them repeatedly is confirmed to strengthen your pelvic ground, or that sling of muscular tissues operating out of your pubic bone to your tailbone. However for all of the hype about firming these up, we hardly ever hear concerning the reverse: studying to chill out them, which is important when you have signs of a good pelvic ground.

Like every other muscle, those that make up your pelvic ground are simply as able to being too tight as they’re weak, Sara Reardon, PT, DPT, WCS, New Orleans–based mostly board-certified pelvic ground bodily therapist and founding father of on-line pelvic ground exercise platform The Vagina Whisperer, tells SELF. Weak spot has simply develop into the analysis du jour as a result of the signs of it are extra widespread (affecting roughly 24% of ladies and 16% of males) and infrequently extra overt too—like peeing slightly while you giggle. However that doesn’t negate the truth that pelvic ground muscular tissues also can tense up and develop into tough to chill out for an estimated 1 in 10 folks.

All that tightness down there is usually a sneaky reason behind a bunch of issues, given how interconnected these muscular tissues are along with your bowels, bladder, and intercourse organs. What you actually need is the Goldilocks of a pelvic ground, Darla Cathcart, PT, DPT, PhD, Arkansas-based pelvic ground bodily therapist and president of the Academy of Pelvic Well being of the American Bodily Remedy Affiliation, tells SELF. “For those who cough or sneeze, you want that muscle to have the ability to contract and stop leakage,” she says, “however you additionally want it to have the ability to [relax and] open up while you go gasoline or a bowel motion, or to start a child or insert one thing into the vagina.”

Beneath, consultants break down the important thing signs of a good (or hypertonic) pelvic ground, and what to do in case you suppose your pelvis is mainly caught in a contraction.

First, let’s discuss what may cause your pelvic ground to tighten up within the first place.

This basket of muscular tissues features slightly in a different way than, say, your bicep: It’s important to flex your bicep to maneuver your forearm, however your pelvic ground muscular tissues are all the time working for you, supporting the organs in your pelvis and stabilizing your core. Which means chances are you’ll inadvertently interact these muscular tissues all through the day—kinda like the way you would possibly clench your jaw while you’re confused. “[Your pelvic floor] is a load-bearing portion of the physique, so it tends to be a spot the place rigidity can construct up,” Lopa Pandya, MD, MS, FACOG, Illinois-based urogynecologist, reconstructive surgeon, and medical advisor at Aeroflow Urology, tells SELF. Over time, fixed contraction can morph into power tightness, Dr. Reardon says.

Sure habits can pile onto that rigidity, too, like forcing pee out (versus simply enjoyable to let it move), straining to poop, and repeatedly doing workouts that firmly interact your core—something from CrossFit and heavy lifting to Pilates and barre—with out counterbalancing by stretching out your pelvic ground, Dr. Reardon says. To not point out, the one poor behavior so many people are responsible of: sitting all rattling day, and infrequently in a slumped posture, which places strain in your hip flexors and, yep, your pelvis.