Exercises to Calm Frazzled Nerves & Lower Pelvic and Bladder Pain

Exercises to Calm Frazzled Nerves & Lower Pelvic and Bladder Pain 

If you’re experiencing lower pelvic pain, bladder pain or pelvic floor dysfunction for more than 4 months, your nervous system may need some extra loving care.  

Once your doctors and their tests ruled out any active infection, pathological tissue causes, and perhaps you’re on medication that gives some help, but still feeling symptoms, your nervous system may be contributing to ongoing discomfort.  

Our autonomic nervous system helps us breathe, digest and eliminate without us ever having to think about it!  There are 2 parts to this system: the sympathetic - ”fight or flight” and the parasympathetic - ”rest and digest”.  To feel good and have optimum pelvic/bladder function, it’s best to have a harmonious balance between the two systems. 

If you experience regular emotional threats, high stress or anxiety, your sympathetic -“fight or flight” nervous system can become overactive, sounding the alarm bells in the brain.  The brain responds to the incessant alarm by sending pain chemicals, usually to an area of the body where you’ve had prior pain issues.  So if you have a history of bladder pain or lower back pain, you might feel ongoing discomfort in the bladder or a spike in lower back pain. 

The sympathetic nervous system, “S for Store or Stress”, is involved with keeping continence, your muscles tense so your body is prepared ready to run or fight.  Going to the bathroom in this state is difficult. 

The parasympathetic nervous system, “P for Pour”, is involved in the ease of release and effortless flow, so going to the bathroom while in this state is a breeze.  The parasympathetic enhances your body’s ability to rest, reproduce, repair and digest.

When activating your parasympathetic nervous system, the brain sends more happy chemicals like dopamine, endorphins and less pain chemicals.  

Here are some exercises you’ll be guided in the PelvicSense program to elevate your feelings of calm and help decrease your chronic pelvic and bladder pain:

• Diaphragmatic Breathing 

This exercise stimulates the vagus nerve which stimulates your parasympathetic nervous system.  With each deep inhale, the diaphragm and pelvic floor both lengthens and lowers.  While you can visibly see your abdomen region gently ballooning during the inhale to make room for the diaphragm,  it’s obviously difficult to see and even might be hard to feel your pelvic floor doing anything.  Know that the pelvic floor muscles ever so subtly expands on your deep inhale.  As you exhale, the diaphragm and pelvic floor return to its resting upward dome position. 

Diaphragmatic Breathing Exercise

• Position yourself on your back with head and legs supported by a pillow

• Place one hand on your abdomen, and the other on your chest
• Inhale for a count of 3 feeling your hand on your abdomen gentle moving up 
• Exhale for a count of 5, feeling your hand on your stomach lowering. 
• The hand on your chest keeps relatively still throughout this breath exercise
• Repeat 10 times. 
• Do this first thing upon awaking every morning.

Happy Baby Pose

This exercise further relaxes and stretches the muscles of the pelvic floor.   The PelvicSense exercise videos have many variations of the happy baby pose, so if you’re not ready for this position, the program will help. 

• Lie on your back 
• Keep your lower spine in contact with the ground, bring one knee then the other knee towards your chest. Grasp both heels, or ankles, or shin bones (whichever is most comfortable for you) 
• Let your knees fall out to the sides and towards the ground while you relax your pelvic floor 
• Do 10 diaphragmatic breaths while maintaining this position.  
• Do 2x/day

Seated Pelvic Floor Relaxation 

This exercise helps you become aware of the sensation of a calm, relaxed body

• Sit comfortably on a chair, rest against the back of the chair with cushions if you prefer
• Inhale and visualize your pelvic floor muscles softening down towards the chair seat
• Exhale as your pelvic floor naturally returns to its resting upward position 
• With each exhale focus on a different area of your body: such as your jaw, shoulders, buttocks, inner thighs, and lower abdomen, becoming more soft and supple
• Do for 2 minutes. 
• Do 2x’s a day.

No matter how many months or years you’ve had persistent bladder/lower pelvic pain, with awareness and practice of these techniques you are calming the nervous system and with time may notice less pain.   Pelvic Sense offers many more techniques to calm an overactive nervous system and heal pelvic pain, so consider doing this program to enhance your healing process.