October 25, 2024
If you’ve been wondering if that gnarly back pain you’ve been dealing with on and off for years, sciatic nerve symptoms, or disc problems could be affecting your bladder leakage, you’re in the right place. My name is Brittany Cappiello, and I am a pelvic floor physical therapist who has devoted the last 21 years of my career to helping women just like you. I hear this question a lot: “I’ve had low back pain for a while, I have degenerative disc disease, and I’ve had sciatic nerve symptoms. Does that have anything to do with my bladder leaks?” The answer is yes, absolutely.
Let me explain a little more. When we figure out what is going on with your bladder and if it really is because of how you’re moving, that influences your back pain as well. We can kill two birds with one stone. The same exercises that are going to help your bladder leaking are often also going to help your low back pain. However, there are certain cases where trauma has been a factor in back pain, such as motor vehicle accidents or surgery. While we can’t always fix all of those things, if you have generalized low back pain, aches, SI joint discomfort, or just wear and tear over time, learning to move your pelvis and your hips better will help both your back and your bladder leaks.
Let’s take a quick look at the anatomy. The pelvic floor muscles surround your coccyx (tailbone) and attach directly to the sacrum (the lower part of your spine). This means that anything happening in your pelvic area affects the entire chain above it. Imagine pulling on your shirt—the whole shirt moves, not just the part you’re pulling. If your pelvic floor is tight and pulling on the lower part of your tailbone and sacrum, it affects the mechanics of your spine. This can worsen symptoms in your low back and cause more wear and tear over time. But if we get you moving better through your pelvis and reduce the tension in your pelvic floor, it can release this tension and settle everything back down.
Pain is a huge factor in how we move. If you have a lot of pain, you’re likely to move less, which can lead to weaker pelvic floor muscles and less blood flow, causing them to tighten, compress, and weaken. Therefore, there’s a significant relationship between how you move, your pelvic floor, and your spine. You might think, “I know I have to move more to help my pelvic floor, but movement scares me when it comes to my spine.” That’s when the right kinds of movement come in. In my online program and live workout classes, I teach how to move so your low back moves with your pelvic floor without dictating the motion. This reduces stress and inflammation in both the joints of the spine and the muscles around it.
Low back pain and pelvic floor dysfunction, such as incontinence, pelvic pain, and prolapse, are closely related. Learning to move correctly can improve your symptoms from a leaking standpoint, prolapse, and pain, and can also help reduce your low back pain. If something hurts, continuing to irritate it increases inflammation, soft tissue tension, and pain. Learning to move properly reduces stress on the low back, allowing it to heal, and you can tackle both issues simultaneously.
To learn more about the right exercises for your low back pain and pelvic floor problems, check us out at mycorefloor.com. We can help you.
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