Tag Archives: #pelvicpain

The “Giggle Test”

The giggle test is a quick and easy test that we do during our assessments to see how the core muscles are firing together. It shows us how the body is dealing with any pressure changes inside the abdomen and pelvis.

Ideally, when there is an increase in pressure (such as with a laugh, cough or sneeze), we want the core muscles to switch on in such a way that the pressure is controlled and doesn’t overwhelm our pelvic floor muscles resulting in leaks.

This is how you can do the test

Step 1: Remove clothing from lower abdomen/ pelvic area so that you can see the tummy move

Step 2: Do a fake laugh

Step 3: Observe how your lower belly moves; does it move in when you laugh or does it move out?

A positive giggle test is when your tummy moves out and this indicates that your core is not firing optimally.

But no need to stress or freak out. Knowledge is power! If you do have a positive giggle test it just means to need to spend some time on your core.

Here is a video of me doing the giggle test

Its not perfect because I still have work to do on letting go of holding my tummy in; but you get the general idea.

Take some time this weekend to do the giggle test on yourself and get an idea of how your core is working.

Learning to let it go

I have spent the majority of my life holding my belly in. I thought that I had to. I thought that it made me look better. I thought that it meant I was strong. If only I had known earlier that none of those were true.

I have since spent the last year teaching myself to let go. It has been tough! Stress and habit often cause me to tighten up. Then I remind myself to take a deep breath, to relax, to let go.

But what is so wrong with constantly pulling in your tummy? For starters it is unnatural. It’s not how our abdominal muscles were made to function. It restricts our diaphragm, which means we are not getting the right breath and oxygen to our bodies. It changes our posture, causing our pelvis to tilt and our shoulders to round forward.

Most significantly for me I found that whenever I pulled in my tummy, I would tighten my pelvic floor unnecessarily! And with an overactive pelvic floor comes pain and dysfunction. For me that translates to constipation and hip/SIJ pain.

Now whenever I see a pelvic pain patient, or someone battling constipation I always start by checking for abdominal bracing. Those overactive tummy muscles are big contributors to pain in the pelvis, hip and low back area.

How are your tummy muscles? Do you carry tension in them? Are you able to let them go?

We all need a little “win” now & then

I have always wanted to do a headstand. So each day in lockdown I started to do a little something which would help me get there. Shoulder strength, core strength, stretching and balance and even some mind work. I had get myself to the point where my fear of succeeding was greater than my fear of falling.

I fell many times. I am now an expert at “tucking and rolling.” But each time I could feel I was getting closer and that made me continue. Then one day it all came together and I was up! Pure happiness!

The next day however I couldn’t get up again so had to backtrack and work on the build up again. I tried not to get frustrated because I knew that my goal was still within reach.

This reminded me so much of my patients journeys. Often with chronic pelvic pain the journey is long. In order to get to the end (and keep us motivated) we need to set up small goals that we can “win” along the way to help us get there.

There is nothing like the feeling of winning to keep our head in the game. So I challenge you to pick something you want to achieve and then go for it. Set mini goals along the way so that you can stay motivated and invested. And then share your stories with me 😀