Bowel

A pelvic floor physiotherapist helps manage stool consistency, bowel sensation, and the urge to poo (defecate). They train you to empty your bowels effectively and strengthen your pelvic floor muscles, reducing the risk of incontinence.

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Common Bowel Symptoms

Constipation

Unable to poo regularly
Bowels moving slower than usual and you pass a firm, dry stool
Increased amount of wind or bloating
Bloating when you wake up, or bloating without food
The use of laxatives, stool softeners and fibre supplements has not helped

Emptying

Straining to do a poo
Moving positions on the toilet to do a poo
Unable to relax your pelvic floor muscle when doing a poo
Hovering over the toilet bowel
Avoiding straining but cant empty your bowels
A feeling of incomplete emptying when you leave the bathroom
Passing loose stools that make you feel like you haven't emptied completely

Frequency or Urgency

Needing to poo more than 3 times a day
Needing to poo up to 3 times a day but they occur in a cluster
Needing to rush to go to the toilet to do a poo
Unable to defer bowel urge
Unable to do a poo at least 3 times a week
Urgency to do a poo when exercising

Sensation/Leakage

Unable to hold in stool
Smearing on your underwear
Faeces around your anus without needing to poo
Incontinence of faeces when exercising
Incontinence (accidentally leaking poo) of poo caused by incomplete emptying of stool

Strong evidence for pelvic floor physiotherapy

Level 1A evidence indicates strong support for a clinical intervention. Pelvic floor physiotherapy has Level 1A evidence for the use of pelvic floor muscle training to improve anorectal dysfunctions, including faecal incontinence, constipation, and bowel urgency (Igualada-Martinez, Breslin, Higgins, & Hainsworth, 2022) .