Are you a gripper?
I think we can all agree that clenching our jaws or holding so much tension in our upper traps that our shoulders end up in our ears is bad for the body. But have you ever thought about whether you’re clenching your butt cheeks together, sucking in your upper abdominals or your obliques, or even clenching your pelvic floor during the day? I see this in clinic all the time. I’m even guilty of it myself.
Women are especially notorious for this. We want to look thinner or we’re concerned about our belly pooch, so we just hold it in. All.Day.Long. In my world, we call this gripping. Gripping your abdominals actually negatively affects your core, pelvic floor, and your breathing patterns. It can lead to pelvic floor dysfunction, pain, and altered movement patterns and posture.
Your abdominals have to be able to relax for breathing, moving, digesting food, enjoying sex, and peeing and pooping. When we get into a pattern of gripping throughout the day, we’re disrupting all of these vital functions.
We all need to breathe, right? Well your main breathing muscle, your diaphragm, can’t descend optimally if you’re gripping or sucking in your stomach. Your diaphragm is a big dome-shaped muscle that sits underneath your lungs (above your belly), and it needs to be able to flatten when you take a breath in. So when you keep your abdominals sucked in, you don’t give the diaphragm room to move. This ultimately decreases the amount of oxygen flowing through our body and increases stress on the pelvic floor as well as our nervous systems. When you are able to take proper, deep breaths with your diaphragm, you can reduce the strain on your pelvic floor, lower anxiety and cortisol levels, and improve your immune system function.
Gripping your abdominals also increases the pressure in your core. Think of it like a full tube of toothpaste. When you squeeze a full tube of toothpaste, the contents move above and below where your squeeze. When you grip your abdominals, an increased amount of pressure goes down on your bowel, bladder, and pelvic floor, over time leading to dysfunction like incontinence, painful intercourse, and prolapse.
If this gripping pattern sounds familiar to you, here’s where you start to correct it: learn to breathe with your diaphragm and practice it throughout the day. Think of your rib cage and your belly opening up like an umbrella as you take a breath in. Work on breathing out, not up. Allow (don’t force) your belly to expand as you breathe in.
You may also want to consider some self-reflection. Why are you gripping? Is it stress? Are you concerned about body image or is it related to how you feel about yourself? If these are factors, it may be a good idea to reach out to a mental health professional. Brain, body, emotion - it’s all connected.
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