Does physical therapy help constipation? Yes, you can get relief & will learn how to help yourself, also!
If you are struggling with constipation and tired of having no remedies that actually work (like medications & miralax), you should consider seeing our physical therapists. We are Purple Mountain Physical Therapy, a specialty pelvic health, constipation & TMJ clinic in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Our licensed, experienced PTs have advanced training to provide physical therapy to help constipation, pelvic floor dysfunction, bladder problems, intimacy related pain, tailbone pain, postpartum recovery problems, spine and TMJ disorders for women and men. Many of our patients come to us for lifelong constipation, anal fissures, hemorrhoids or IBS and are surprised to learn that physical therapy helps constipation. Our patients are looking for natural and effective ways to improve their bothersome constipation, instead of taking medications and dealing with uncomfortable, small stools. If you would like more information about working with our PTs, contact us here or call 616.516.4334 to speak with one of our staff members.
Our physical therapy to help constipation is customized to your needs and goals and includes a holistic approach using physical therapy methods to help improve your bowel movements. You will receive natural and effective methods to improve constipation including frequency of bowel movements, stool size, ease of passing & exercises you can do on your own to facilitate passage and more.
We offer a combination of natural physical therapy methods to help constipation.
Patients find our specialized abdominal massage techniques gives them tremendous relief from constipation.
This abdominal massage includes visceral mobilization, scar tissue treatment, gentle intestinal massage, rib cage and diaphragmatic treatments and abdominal muscle trigger point release. We find that our patients who have constipation have an assortment of tension and issues in the abdominal wall, likely from prolonged bouts of constipation. These gentle, hands-on abdominal massage techniques improve your pain, tension, scar tissues and can promote bowel sounds. Sometimes during an appointment patients experience the gift of needing to defecate.
Our physical therapy program to help constipation also includes exercises, gentle movements to facilitate digestion, pelvic floor muscle training, myofascial release, neural calming and behavioral changes at home to promote digestion and bowel movements.
When you struggle with constipation, anal fissures, IBS or hemorrhoids, most of our patients struggle silently. Many have visited their physicians and really don’t receive much advice about how to get your bowels moving more regularly. This is where physical therapy to help constipation can be a game changer for you. Our PTs comprehensively treat you, with private, one-on-one appointments that are upto 55 minutes in length, which provides you plenty of time to receive treatment and learn what you can do for yourself. For example, we will review your posture, breathing and pelvic floor control when defecating. More often than not, there are multiple changes you can easily make that will help the passage of stool. Our PTs can teach you what works best for your body. If you would like information about our PT for constipation, contact us here.
If you are experiencing constipation and are looking for treatments that teach you how to help your constipation so you don’t have daily troubles, our licensed physical therapists are here to help you.
What to expect in physical therapy for constipation.
Our constipation physical therapy treatment is customized to your needs and is always one-on-one with your licensed physical therapist.
- Appointments are upto 55 minutes in length, are private and with your physical therapist the entire time.
- Treatments may include gentle manual therapy to the abdomen, lower back, thighs, pelvic floor, hips or other areas
- We include scar tissue mobilization and myofascial release techniques to promote abdominal health and bowel motility
- We provide biofeedback and pelvic floor exercises to teach your pelvic floor muscles how to effectively expel stool.
- Treatment addresses any hip or low back problems, because pain or stiffness in this area contributes to pelvic floor dysfunction and can slow down your intestinal movements.
- You will complete exercises that are customized to your findings and teach you how to move, stretch, relax and strengthen to reduce constipation.
- We help you modify your approach to eating, including when you eat, your chewing habits, how you eat, what foods you eat, what you need to eat to help facilitate soft, formed stools and more.
- We teach you the optimal toileting postures, breathing, pelvic floor control and other factors of how you sit on the toilet and how you pass yoru stool.
- You will have all of your questions answered and will learn an effective daily routine for self care at home.
- We include neural calming, heart rate variability training and vagus nerve stimulation to help your intestinal peristalsis.
Because our PTs specialize in this treatment and have advanced training specific to helping constipation, you can expect a higher level of care when working with us.
Most of our patients tell us that no one has ever helped them or advised them for their constipation in the ways we include.
This is what makes your treatment with us unique and effective, because we are taking the time to talk to you about your habits and to assess your body head to toe to determine how we can improve your constipation. We tap into the ability of your own body and your habits to help you resolve constipation. Resolving chronic constipation requires a holistic and comprehensive approach and effective daily habits, which our licensed physical therapists provide you. If you would like information about our PT for constipation, contact us here or call 616.516.4334 to speak with one of our staff members.
You can expect a comprehensive treatment approach that includes numerous physical therapy interventions such as exercises, stretches, self abdominal massage, scar tissue manual therapy, electric stimulation, neural calming, pelvic floor training, toileting posture & mechanics practice, eating and dietary recommendations and more. Physical therapy for constipation can help you feel so much better. To get your questions answered, contact us here or call (616) 516-4334
Our patients tell us that their medical providers have never taught them what we teach them and have not provided them a natural and comprehensive approach for helping their constipation. We know that you may have been told to take miralax or presciption medications. We know you often are told to eat more fiber, yet you may not tolerate this. Our physical therapy treatment for constipation is far more comprehensive than medications and fiber intake. Because we teach you exercises to promote intestinal motility, self abdominal massage and scar tissue treatment in addition to toileting habits, techniques to pass stool more effectively and eating habits that can help constipation, our patients learn so much more than they have ever known. We also provide pelvic and spine treatment, visceral mobilization and instructions on optimizing your bowel habits, techniques for defecating and chewing & diet. If this sounds like it may help you, call us at 616.516.4334 or contact us here to get your questions answered.
We often have adults or children who come to us for physical therapy with constipation related problems like anal fissures, hemorrhoids, vaginismus, pelvic pain, bloating, incomplete emptying of their bowels, fecal incontinence and abdominal cramping.
If you have recurrent hemorrhoids or anal fissures, did you know that physical therapy can help these? Our PT for constipation, hemorrhoids and anal fissures has a goal of reducing whatever is going on in your body to cause these problems.
Our licensed physical therapists work with both adults and children who have constipation.
Pediatric constipation treatment is developmentally appropriate, fun for kids and highly effective.
Sometimes kids have a functional gut problem, which means that there is nothing damaged in the tissue of the gut, but they still experience challenges related to digestion, cramping pain, constipation and difficulty defecating. Our pediatric bladder and bowel specialist physical therapist offers kids (and parents) a proven path forward to help constipation and its associated abdominal bloating, pain and daytime & nighttime incontinence.
Adult constipaton physical therapy helps you to experience ease with passing stools, improvement in size of stools and frequency of defecation and resolves pelvic floor muscle dysfunction contributing to hemorrhoids, anal fissures and constipation.
Adults come to us frustrated and uncertain about where to turn for help. We love this work and have devoted our careers to figuring out how to best help you have a daily, complete bowel movement without pain or straining. There is so much you can do to help yourself. Usually the pelvic floor muscles are part of the problem, as well as your abdomen, breathing and defecatory techniques. If you are struggling with constipation related problems, working with our doctors of physical therapy, who can provide you a path forward and a more comfortable daily life. Call us at 616-516-4334 or contact us here to learn more.
Our patients tell us that receiving the hands-on manual therapies and pelvic floor muscle exercise training we provide, such as gentle abdominal massage, Vagus nerve toning treatments, visceral mobilization and scar tissue mobilization helps alleviate pain and improves constipation and bloating.
Our bowel and bladder program, for both adults and children, helps optimize your constipation, pelvic health, posture, toileting habits and techniques and more. We help patients stop straining on the toilet and reduce hemorrhoids and anal fissures. If you have questions about cost and availability of our physical therapy, contact us here or call 616-516-4334.
There is also evidence that vagus nerve stimulation is a good option for helping patients who have Crohn’s disease. We provide numerous techniques for vagus nerve stimulation.
Our PTs provide vagus nerve stimulation techniques for your constipation treatment. We also teach you numerous self-care methods to stimulate your own vagus nerve and help your constipatin at home. If you would like more information about our specialized physical therapy to help treat bowel disorders and chronic constipation, call us at 616-516-4334 or contact us here.
“Thus, vagus nerve stimulation provides a new therapeutic option in the treatment of Crohn’s disease”
-Bonaz B, Sinniger V, Pellissier S. Vagus nerve stimulation: a new promising therapeutic tool in inflammatory bowel disease. J Intern Med (2017) 282:46–63.
Physical Therapy for constipation also helps with pelvic floor muscle dysfunction that is making it hard for you to pass stool.
Our PTs treat the pelvic floor muscles, which can be a huge part of why you are constipated. If your pelvic floor muscles do not know how to lengthen and open the passageway for stool to pass, you can end up with pain and constipation.
One common problem with the pelvic floor muscles is puborectalis dyssynergia and this contributes to constipation; effective PT treatments that we provide can retrain your pelvic floor muscles.
There has been research showing physical therapy works to improve this cause of constipation and one paper was published by Dr. Christina Lewicky-Gaupp back in 2008.
“Successful physical therapy for patients with puborectalis dyssynergia is associated with improvements in constipation-related symptoms and in quality of life.”
Lewicky-Gaupp, C., Morgan, D.M., Chey, W.D. et al. Successful Physical Therapy for Constipation Related to Puborectalis Dyssynergia Improves Symptom Severity and Quality of Life. Dis Colon Rectum 51, 1686–1691 (2008).
Puborectalis dyssynergia is a complicated terminology that means that the pelvic floor muscle that surrounds your rectum and intertwines with your anal sphincter is tightening up when you try to pass a stool. When this is happening you can experience pain, hemorrhoids, anal fissures, bloating and constipation. Our PTs will treat this problem and help your muscle learn how to pass stool more easily.
Our founder here at Purple Mountain PT, Dr. Maureen O’Keefe, DPT, worked with Dr. Lewicky-Gaupp, the author of this research article, who now works at Northwestern in Chicago. They worked together for many years in Chicago. Dr. Lewicky-Gaupp is a strong advocate for physical therapy for all pelvic floor dysfunction, constipation, urinary incontinence, prolapse and pelvic pain conditions.
Your path to improve your constipation begins with your evaluation with our doctor of physical therapy, who is a licensed physical therapist. Call us at 616-516-4334 or contact us here to learn more. This is a private appointment, upto 55 minutes in length and will include a complete review of the things you have tried to do to help your constipation, your daily bowel habits, any pelvic issues related to your bladder, bowels, intimacy or pain and your medical history, which includes abdominal surgeries
Our patients tell us that receiving the hands-on manual therapies and pelvic floor muscle exercise training we provide, such as gentle abdominal massage, Vagus nerve toning treatments, visceral mobilization and scar tissue mobilization helps alleviate pain and improves constipation and bloating.
Our bowel and bladder program, for both adults and children, helps optimize your constipation, pelvic health, posture, toileting habits and techniques and more. We help patients stop straining on the toilet and reduce hemorrhoids and anal fissures. If you have questions about cost and availability of our physical therapy, contact us here or call 616-516-4334.
Because kids are prone to constipation, they also experience bladder control problems. Constipation in children is linked to bedwetting, daytime loss of urine and fecal incontinence. Our pediatric bladder and bowel physical therapy program helps constipation and pediatric wetting problems.
Constipation in children can cause stretching out of the rectum, which can alter the bladder’s capacity to fill up, store urine and keep your child dry. If your child is experiencing any unexpected loss of urine, such as nocturnal enuresis (bedwetting), enuresis (daytime bladder leaks), and encopresis (stool leaks or smearing), physical therapy can help you. All child working with our licensed physical therapist for urinary incontinence will receive a complete assessment of their bowel function and whether they have constipation.
What are the signs that my child is constipated?
Some of the parents of our pediatric patients are not sure if their child is constipated. There are signs of constipation, including clogging the toilet, not having a daily bowel movement, extra large stools, problems with bladder control, including completely emptying at night, leading to bedwetting, and bloating. For these kids we know that chewing food more completely, to the consistency of apple sauce, can help their constipation. We provide a complete physical therapy program for pediatric bladder and bowel development and control. If your child is experiencing challenges related to constipation or bladder function, our licensed physical therapist specializes in providing treatment that helps them. Call us at 616-516-4334 or contact us here to learn more.
Can physical therapy, such as abdominal massage, vagus nerve toning and pelvic floor muscle training help my constipation?
Yes, these treatments can help your constipation. Because our licensed PTs specialize in pelvic health, we offer holisitic treatments that have helped patients who have Crohn’s disease, IBS, celiac disease, colorectal cancer and other gut related health problems. Our therapies are gentle, safe and natural. Treatment is one-on-one with your PT for upto 55 minutes. For more information about working with us, contact us here or call us at 616-516-4334. This time allows us to provide you whole body care, such as heart rate variability training, diaphragmatic breathing exercises, pelvic floor muscle training, abdominal massage, scar tissue mobilization and vagus nerve toning treatments. Each of these interventions is meant to calm your inflammatory state and promote healthy pelvic floor muscle control. Treatment using abdominal massage in physical therapy for constipation has been around for a number of years and has been shown in case studies to help improve regularity and ease of passing your stools.
“Physical therapy incorporating abdominal massage appeared to be helpful in resolving this patient’s constipation. Unlike medical management of constipation, no known side effects have been identified with abdominal massage.”
-Kendra L Harrington, Esther M Haskvitz, Managing a Patient’s Constipation With Physical Therapy, Physical Therapy, Volume 86, Issue 11, 1 November 2006, Pages 1511–1519.
There is also evidence that vagus nerve stimulation is a good option for helping patients who have Crohn’s disease. We provide numerous techniques for vagus nerve stimulation.
Our PTs provide vagus nerve stimulation techniques for your constipation treatment. We also teach you numerous self-care methods to stimulate your own vagus nerve and help your constipatin at home. If you would like more information about our specialized physical therapy to help treat bowel disorders and chronic constipation, call us at 616-516-4334 or contact us here.
“Thus, vagus nerve stimulation provides a new therapeutic option in the treatment of Crohn’s disease”
-Bonaz B, Sinniger V, Pellissier S. Vagus nerve stimulation: a new promising therapeutic tool in inflammatory bowel disease. J Intern Med (2017) 282:46–63.
The Vagus Nerve is often hypoactive when you have constipation and gastroparesis. Our physical therapy helps constipation by providing numerous treatments to help stimulate your vagus nerve.
The vagus nerve, the 10th cranial nerve, starts in your head and wanders a lengthy path down your neck, midback and abdomen. This is why we provide whole body physical therapy treatment to help constipation. We have found that if we can provide gentle hands-on treatments to the head and neck, for example, we can facilitate vagus nerve activation. Gastroparesis is a condition where food you eat does not move from the stomach into the intestines and is related to low vagus nerve activity. If you are interested in learning more about how our physical therapy can help constipation, including our Vagus nerve techniques, contact us here or call us at 616.516.4334
Physical Therapy for constipation also helps with pelvic floor muscle dysfunction that is making it hard for you to pass stool.
Our PTs treat the pelvic floor muscles, which can be a huge part of why you are constipated. If your pelvic floor muscles do not know how to lengthen and open the passageway for stool to pass, you can end up with pain and constipation.
One common problem with the pelvic floor muscles is puborectalis dyssynergia and this contributes to constipation; effective PT treatments that we provide can retrain your pelvic floor muscles.
There has been research showing physical therapy works to improve this cause of constipation and one paper was published by Dr. Christina Lewicky-Gaupp back in 2008.
“Successful physical therapy for patients with puborectalis dyssynergia is associated with improvements in constipation-related symptoms and in quality of life.”
Lewicky-Gaupp, C., Morgan, D.M., Chey, W.D. et al. Successful Physical Therapy for Constipation Related to Puborectalis Dyssynergia Improves Symptom Severity and Quality of Life. Dis Colon Rectum 51, 1686–1691 (2008).
Puborectalis dyssynergia is a complicated terminology that means that the pelvic floor muscle that surrounds your rectum and intertwines with your anal sphincter is tightening up when you try to pass a stool. When this is happening you can experience pain, hemorrhoids, anal fissures, bloating and constipation. Our PTs will treat this problem and help your muscle learn how to pass stool more easily.
Our founder here at Purple Mountain PT, Dr. Maureen O’Keefe, DPT, worked with Dr. Lewicky-Gaupp, the author of this research article, who now works at Northwestern in Chicago. They worked together for many years in Chicago. Dr. Lewicky-Gaupp is a strong advocate for physical therapy for all pelvic floor dysfunction, constipation, urinary incontinence, prolapse and pelvic pain conditions.
If you would like to talk with one of our knowledgable staff members about your constipation or pelvic health needs, contact us here or call 616-516-4334.
Because our patients are tired of medical treatments for constipation that don’t work or are expensive or come with side effects, they are looking for natural approaches to help their constipation. Our pelvic physical therapists will provide you a lengthy list of customized treatments and things you can do for yourself to help constipation, including chewing.
We know how miserable it can feel to struggle with lifelong constipation. Our physical therapy helps constipation by using comprehensive, gentle treatments that address pelvic floor dysfunction, Vagus nerve tone, myofascial release, scar tissue, toileting habits, breathing, dietary habits and more.
Purple Mountain Physical Therapy is a specialty PT clinic located in Grand Rapids, Michigan. We love this work and consider it an honor to help people improve their constipation, pelvic pain, pelvic floor dysfunction, TMJ pain and intimacy related problems. We treat adults and children who have bladder, bowel and pain conditions, including chronic constipation, chronic pelvic pain, TMJ disorders and neck and back pain. Our PTs are fully trained orthopedic physical therapists, but it is our specialization and many years’ experience working in the field of constipation care, pelvic health, chronic pelvic and TMJ pain that informs the treatment we provide you for constipation. If you are interested in learning more about our bladder & bowel programs you can speak with one of our knowledgable staff members at (616)516-4334 or contact us here.
Peace,
Dr. Maureen O’Keefe, DPT founder of Purple Mountain PT and pelvic health, spine and TMJ specialist. Our team of licensed physical therapists all specialize in treating chronic constipation and are here to help you take control of your body and improve your digestion.
You may be interested in these other articles we’ve written about the services we offer:
Why is My Child’s Poop So Big?
Does Chewing Help Constipation?
Tips to Fix Incontinence Naturally
Why Does Sex Hurt After Having A Baby?
Why Does My C-Section Scar Hurt Years Later?
What is High Tone Pelvic Floor Dysfunction?
Does Physical Therapy Help Endometriosis?
What Can I Do Naturally to Help My TMJ? 8 Tips That Help!
Physical Therapy Can Stop Bedwetting!
References:
Bonaz B, Sinniger V, Pellissier S. Vagus nerve stimulation: a new promising therapeutic tool in inflammatory bowel disease. J Intern Med (2017) 282:46–63. doi:10.1111/joim.12611
Carabotti M, Scirocco A, Maselli MA, Severi C. The gut-brain axis: interactions between enteric microbiota, central and enteric nervous systems. Ann Gastroenterol (2015) 28:203–9.
Kendra L Harrington, Esther M Haskvitz, Managing a Patient’s Constipation With Physical Therapy, Physical Therapy, Volume 86, Issue 11, 1 November 2006, Pages 1511–1519.
Lewicky-Gaupp, C., Morgan, D.M., Chey, W.D. et al. Successful Physical Therapy for Constipation Related to Puborectalis Dyssynergia Improves Symptom Severity and Quality of Life. Dis Colon Rectum 51, 1686–1691 (2008).
Lu KH, Cao J, Oleson S, Ward MP, Phillips RJ, Powley TL, Liu Z. Vagus nerve stimulation promotes gastric emptying by increasing pyloric opening measured with magnetic resonance imaging. Neurogastroenterol Motil. 2018 Oct;30(10):e13380.
Lu KH, Cao J, Phillips R, Powley TL, Liu Z. Acute effects of vagus nerve stimulation parameters on gastric motility assessed with magnetic resonance imaging. Neurogastroenterol Motil. 2020 Jul;32(7):e13853
Malone JC, Thavamani A. Physiology, Gastrocolic Reflex. [Updated 2022 May 8]. In: StatPearls [Internet]. Treasure Island (FL): StatPearls Publishing; 2022 Jan
Zeng Y, Zhang X, Zhou J, Wang X, Jiao R, Liu Z. Efficacy of electroacupuncture compared with transcutaneous electric nerve stimulation for functional constipation: Study protocol for a randomized, controlled trial. Medicine (Baltimore). 2018 May;97(19):e0692.
