Episode #19 - Peezing
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In this episode, Dayna and Rhonda talk about all things peezing!
We discuss:
🔹 What is peezing?
🔹 The most common strategy people have to avoid peezing, and why it might not be working
🔹 Helpful strategies to avoid peezing
🔹 Some tips to work on everyday to prepare your pelvic floor for allergy/ cold and flu season
We’re excited for you to listen to this episode and hope you find some of these tips helpful.
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Episode 19 - Peezing
Hey podcast friends, Rhonda here. Before we get into it, I just have a little announcement. So if you are someone that's been following me on Instagram, you might have heard about my Strong at Home membership. And this is a three times a week workout membership for clients who are six weeks plus postpartum into many years postpartum.
And this is for you if you are someone that is wanting to get back into exercise after having a baby. or maybe after a hiatus of not working out for a long time and you would just appreciate some guidance to ease back in. And also for you, if you want to continue with some accountability with workouts so that you don't have to plan them yourselves because I know we are all busy.
So, if that sounds appealing to you, I do have a super awesome deal coming up. I'm offering a two week trial for 22 and this is a way to just get a sneak peek of what the membership is all about. It's no strings attached. You don't have to continue and sign up after the fact unless you want to. And if you do, that's awesome.
So the wait list for that is open as of now. So if you want to hop onto my Instagram at Rhonda Chamberlain PT and get your name on the wait list in the link in my bio. So the doors for that are going to open on, um, February 28th, so that's when the deal will be open for purchase for the two weeks for 22, and the two week trial will start the week after March break, so I'm just taking into account all you moms out there.
So the trial will start on March 21st. That's the Monday, and that will be for two weeks, which will take you until the beginning of April. And if you decide to continue, then your membership would start in April. So head on over to my Instagram to check that out. I would love to have you. Alright, here's the episode!
 We're excited to have you join us for this episode of Pelvic Health and Fitness. I'm Dayna Morellato, Mom, Orthopedic and Pelvic Health Physiotherapist. And I'm Rhonda Chamberlain, Mom, Orthopedic Physiotherapist and Pre Postnatal Fitness Coach. On this show, we have open and honest conversations about all phases of motherhood, including fertility, pregnancy, birth, postpartum, menopause, and everything in between.
We also provide helpful education and information on fitness, the pelvic floor, and many aspects of women's health, including physical, mental, and emotional wellness. Please remember as you listen to this podcast that this is not meant to treat or diagnose any medical conditions. Please contact your medical provider if you have specific questions or concerns.
Thanks so much for joining us. Grab a cup of coffee. Or wine. And enjoy!
Welcome to episode 19 of the Pelvic Health and Fitness Podcast. Today, Dayna and I are going to discuss a topic that might be one that will be helpful for all of you, and it is peezing. And what is peezing? It is peeing while you sneeze.
Um, can also relate to coughing as well. So, um, before we get into it, um, so yeah, Dayna, do you want to just get into a bit more detail what it is and how it relates to our pelvic floor? Yeah, absolutely. Um, I think it can be a very timely topic in cold and flu season. Um, if you have, uh, experienced COVID and you've been coughing a lot or even during allergy season, we have lots of coughs and sneezes going around.
Essentially. That is a big workout for the pelvic floor and that core canister that we have sort of talked about in prior episodes. So just, uh, quickly again, your core canister sits in the middle of your body. The front wall would be your abdominal wall. The back wall is your back muscles. The bottom of that canister is your pelvic floor.
So we have this sort of fluid movement, hopefully, um, throughout that canister and what can happen with a big cough or sneeze or particularly if you have, if you're a rapid fire sneezer and you've got a lot of sneezes that sort of come in quick succession is we pressurize that canister. So there's a lot of extra load that goes in and down onto the pelvic floor.
So if you are. on not expecting it, or maybe the pelvic floor is a little bit weak or tight. I think it's important to note that if you have a pelvic floor that is sitting with a lot of tension and doing a lot of work already, that sneeze or cough pressure can overwhelm that system. And unfortunately, some of the load that pelvic floor will put down is any urine in the bladder.
So we get peezing, leaking when you sneeze or cough, and it is a form of. What is called stress urinary incontinence, right? So stress in the body that causes leaking of urine. Yes. And, um, I, this is not something I deal with personally. So I have clients that deal with it. And we kind of talk through some of these strategies, but so I'd say most people, if they have a cough or a sneeze coming on, they'll like cross their legs and they'll like squeeze really hard.
Right. Um, why is that sometimes not. Effective. Yeah, for sure. I think we've all seen maybe our friends or our moms or aunts do it. I know I have for sure. Anytime I demonstrate this when I'm in a clinic with clients, when I say you might have this strategy, you sort of just contract anything in your body To hold on for dear life, right?
Well, sort of bending slightly forward. If you're in a standing position, legs get crossed. You're almost like holding your breath. And anytime we contract our belly, we hold our breath. We bend forward. We actually pressurize that canister even more. So before that sneeze or cough even comes on, we have put a little more downward pressure on the pelvic floor.
before we even add that pressure. Right. So then what happens when we pressurize that canister is your pelvic floor. If you can think about it at the bottom of this can, a Kegel would be lifting up in towards the center of the can. A relaxation of that muscle would be sort of more straight across the bottom of the canister, or maybe even just slightly dipping out the bottom, more slightly rounded, if that makes sense.
Our muscles in our body are at one of their weaker positions in a lengthened or relaxed position. Hopefully that makes sense. So if we are already pressurizing that canister and taking that muscle, not from a contracted position, but from a neutral or straight across, or maybe even lengthened position, it is harder for that muscle to contract to protect against that big increase of pressure.
A sneeze and a cough can be a pretty big burst of pressure. Right. So it just puts the pelvic floor at a disadvantage when we're already bent over, crossing our legs, holding our breath and bracing for impact. Right. Yes. So let's get into, so if that is not a very effective strategy, let's get into some strategies that might be more beneficial for you.
to prevent peezing. So the first one is, and this is a tricky one because it's a little bit about timing, but so we've talked about, uh, previous episode, we talked about to Kegel or not to Kegel. So that's a good one to review to figure out what a Kegel actually is. But, uh, before you cough or sneeze, if you can do, um, even just a gentle pelvic floor lift or a Kegel, um, when you feel that cough or sneeze coming.
So basically just... Bracing that canister, preparing that canister to absorb the load with that kegel. So I think again, even with that one, the temptation would be to do like a grip and squeeze like a hundred percent kegel, but I think it's still like try to just do a slight lift. Is that right? Yes, absolutely.
Yes. So in my pick up the blueberry example here, you want to pick up the blueberry, but we don't want to make jam, right? So we're just sort of gently picking it up. I often get funny looks from clients when you tell them this, and it does take practice. Of course, hopefully in the background of this, you're practicing your pelvic floor contractions and relaxations, depending on what is most appropriate for you.
Everybody should know how to contract their pelvic floor for these specific examples. When You do need a little bit of extra help, but yes, absolutely. It is a little bit of, um, it's not a max contraction. It's just a nice gentle lift to prepare that system a little bit. I sometimes use the trampoline visual.
If you think about a trampoline, we've got the black middle, we've got the springs that run out to the side. So if that. Pelvic floor is the trampoline, the black part at contraction would be that moving up so that sort of recoil when you are up in the air when it's nice and taught across the middle, that's more of a neutral position and then when you jump down and you land on the trampoline that sort of soften lengthen position before it launches you back up right is the relaxed position.
Right. So if we're thinking about that trampoline example, we want that trampoline already in that lifted you in the air position before that sneeze comes down or the person jumps down on that trampoline to help support. Yeah, that does. Yeah. And I like the, I like the trampoline example too, because I think the pelvic floor, again, it's not, we don't want to create like a rigid No, Like system to ease against.
Right. So, um, the whole point of the pelvic floor is to be that like absorption, right. I've like similar to that trampoline movement. So yeah. So if we do like a slight lift up and then it kind of carries it down versus yeah, like a hard stop squeeze that is just too much, too much for the system already.
Right. Yeah. Yeah, I think it's important to note and you said it, um, in your description, this is much easier for those coughs or sneezes that you feel coming, right? You can sort of prepare that system a little bit more. The ones that come out of nowhere are a little bit trickier, um, but it can happen with practice and it can happen with practice of just connecting with your pelvic floor sort of regularly throughout.
Your days and weeks and outside of a cold. Yeah. And that makes sense. And I feel like that goes back to a lot of the talks that we've had, you know, even when it comes to exercise. So if you're someone that, um, leaks when you exercise, it's not necessarily, we do have to work on the exercise strategies, but a lot of it is like, what are you doing for the other.
23 hours of your day, right? So it's that's more important, I would say, than even like the strategy in the moment. Absolutely. Yeah, sure. Um, another strategy that you can use might seem obvious, but instead of getting into that sort of cross your legs, bend forward, hold your breath, embrace for impact. sit down or brace the area with your hand.
Um, I mean, obviously, depending on where you are, it can feel a little bit awkward to grab your vulva if you're in the grocery store or something like that. So, um, hopefully we can rely on that Kegel strategy in those situations, but certainly just bracing the area externally can also help give a little bit of support.
To the area when we get that big pressured from the sneeze or the cough, that's good. Yeah. And then the third one we have here, and this is a cool one. I feel like, um, you can help talk me through this to understand this one, but, um, gently lean forward to engage more of the front of the pelvic floor where the bladder sits.
So why is that more effective? So the pelvic floor muscles run sort of continuously from the pubic bone all the way back to the tailbone. The bladder sits closer to that pubic bone in the front. Um, you can also practice your pelvic floor contractions. We've talked about it really as this sort of inhale, relax, exhale contracts, but you, I often will talk to my clients about practicing isolating different areas of their pelvic floor.
So for example, thinking about picking a marble or a raisin up into your, your urethra versus picking a marble up into your rectum. So bringing some awareness to those three areas, um, urethra. vagina rectum, you're still contracting the pelvic floor. I often will compare this to, uh, like a top half squat or a bottom half squat.
You're still squatting. You're still using the same muscles. You're just using them in a little bit of a different way, which builds. strength, endurance, resiliency in all sorts of different variations. The pelvic floor is no different. Yeah. So you can do that sort of in the background, but when a sneeze comes on, we want to utilize that contraction more towards the front of the pelvic floor.
So you could think about picking the marble up into the urethra. Or simply gently lean forward when we lean forward, we sort of automatically engage those muscles in the front of the pelvic floor. A little bit more. This is a strategy we sometimes we'll talk about with runners. If they experienced leaking when they run, it is a strategy that they can try.
It doesn't work for everybody, but leaning forward can increase the, um, lift. Of the public floor more specifically underneath the bladder. That makes sense. Yeah. And I think I'm picturing, so you can't see what we're doing, but it would be more like a lean from the hip hips versus like a crunch, right?
Like I feel like a crunching down would pressurize the system that we don't want. Right. So it's more like a torso. Lean forward. Is that right? Yeah. Yeah. Leave with your chest more so than crunch. Yeah. Crunch your tummy down like a, like a slinky or something like that. Yeah. Gently lean forward and it doesn't have to be drastic.
Don't bend yourself into, it can literally just be a little bit of a lean forward. Like you're, what's that ski ski jump. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I've got the Olympics on the brain. They're coming. Yes. Um, but yeah, sort of just that gentle lean forward can be an effective, um, strategy for some. That's cool. Yeah.
And then, um, just a reminder for all of us. And I've had a few clients message me about this where they have a cold and then they're doing the workouts that I've given them. And all of a sudden like their prolapse symptoms have come back and they're leaking more. And what is happening? Like, am I doing my workouts wrong?
No, give yourself grace. You just had a cold. You just put a ton of work onto your system. Like I think there's studies to show. The forcefulness of like a cough and a sneeze is greater than any exercise will ever do any like weightlifting, um, exercise will ever do. So yeah, it's, it's going to put a toll on your pelvic floor and it's just going to take some time for that system to settle and calm down again.
So don't be alarmed if after, during or after you've had a cold, your pelvic floor symptoms suddenly rear their ugly head again. Right. And so go back to all the strategies that we talked about previously. And Dane and I will do an episode specifically on this of ways to down train and relax that pelvic floor to give it a rest after those hard workout coughs and sneezes.
Yeah. Sometimes I, I kind of, And I do this myself for sure. I think it's easy to think about the pelvic floor as these like mythical muscles that don't really follow the same rules as other muscles, but ultimately they do. So if you were to, you know, contract your bicep 47 times every 15 minutes, it would get pretty sore and tired by the end of seven days.
Right. The pelvic floor is no different with a cough or sneeze. So exactly like you said, it is not unusual. I hear that all the time with clients. I'll graduate somebody and then I see them back in my schedule and I'm like, Oh no. And sure enough, they've had like allergy season or a cold has come through their house or something.
And they're thinking, what the heck? What did I, what did I mess up? Yeah. Um, and it really is just the muscles are tired. So all of their jobs of staying contracted to keep in urine and stool and relaxing to go to the bathroom and holding up those organs, everything feels harder because the muscle is strained.
So yeah, exactly. Like you said, lots of grace for yourself. Go back to the basics, maybe air on the side of, um. more down training for a while. So as much as after a cough or a cold, you probably want to dive right back into the higher intensity stuff. And that might be okay, but definitely have some of the down training stuff.
What do I mean by down training, reverse Kegels, um, taking those nice big inhale belly diaphragmatic breaths to let off tension in the pelvic floor. using cat cow or child's pose positions from yoga can be a really nice way to let off pressure in the pelvic floor or pigeon pose lying on your tummy or doing some prone lying.
Those are all really nice ways to completely relax the pelvic floor and relaxation. can help with strengthening. Yes. Yeah. And again, go back to our episode. We talked about this with tequila or not tequila. Um, in the sense that you, again, you think if, you know, I've missed my workout for a couple of weeks cause I was sick, my pelvic floor must be weak.
But again, if anything, it's extra tired because of all the work I had done during that cold. So in order to build back strength in a muscle. We need to also be able to fully relax it. So the same thing with our pelvic floor, even though we can't see it. And yeah, we think it's this mythical muscle group.
Um, it works just the same as other muscles. And I think about when I've had colds in the past and you can actually, it almost feels like you've done an ab workout. Like I remember that feeling. Right. And so if you can sort of picture, you know, your ab muscles are doing that much work. Same thing happens in the pelvic floor.
Oh, 100%. I had bronchitis when I was pregnant with my second one. Yeah, that's rough. I also had a really bad cold at the end of my second pregnancy too. And that is the first time I experienced hemorrhoids in my pregnancy. At that time, I didn't know anything about my pelvic floor. It wasn't until after Tegan that I got into this world.
And so thinking back, I definitely had zero strategies about, like, managing my pelvic floor. And so I catch myself even now when I cough, if I'm not careful, I'll, like, really bear down into my bum. I'll, like, cough really hard into that area. And so I have to catch myself and almost do, like, focus on a kegel of my, um, glutes, right?
Or of the rectum. So that I'm not pressuring that, that area. Yeah, for sure. And practice makes perfect. The more you do these things sort of outside of a situation where you, you're coughing the better. Yeah. Oh gosh. Yes. I think the same thing too. I definitely was a pelvic floor physio. I'm not the best.
Always at this and I was very new sort of into the pregnancy realm, but I do remember my GP. Um, she's amazing. And I came in basically crying because I hadn't slept in three days because I couldn't, I was pregnant and I had bronchitis. And every time I would sort of gently start to settle, I would have a coughing fit and she was like, okay, yeah.
Listen to my lungs. Yep. You have bronchitis. And the second thing she asked me was how often you pee in your pants. And I actually really appreciated that because she just sort of laid it out as normal, that like, your pelvic floor is growing a human, you're carrying a toddler around and you've been coughing like a crazy person, your pelvic floor must be shot.
And it was, it was, it was, uh, it took some TLC for sure. Yes. Yeah. And I think, um, to finish this episode, just a reminder, I think we talked about this in our incontinence, um, episode that, you know, it is normal for sure to pee when he sees when you cough. Um, but there is a lot of things that can be done. So always checking in with a pelvic.
floor therapist, if you have the means, um, just to figure out what's going on with your pelvic floor, if symptoms arise, and if suddenly out of the blue, you're peeing when you cough or sneeze, um, just have that assessment done to see if there's things you could work on. Absolutely. Yes. It's, it's very common, um, but not necessarily normal.
So yeah, there's lots we can do, lots we can do. Yes. You start to ask any anybody who's had a baby or been pregnant with a cold. There's likely some leaking. Yes, for sure. Yeah, and it doesn't it doesn't have to be something that we just accept as as moms, right? So, or people in general, not necessarily just moms.
So, yeah, we're speaking specifically about urinary incontinence. It is the most Uh, common kind, I always just like to bring awareness that incontinence can also be the leakage of stool or gas as well. So if that is happening, it is also something you don't have to just suffer with. There is lots we can do to help, um, lots of strategies.
So keep that in mind. Incontinence can be either of those three things. Awesome. Good talk. All right. Thanks for listening to today's podcast. We hope you enjoyed the conversation. If you liked what you heard, we would love if you could share this with a friend, leave us a review, or subscribe to anywhere that you listen to your podcasts.
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