Drinking enough water and staying hydrated is crucial in supporting pelvic health.
When we're dealing with pelvic floor issues - including urinary urgency, incontinence, UTIs, burning during urination, bladder pain, or other urinary issues - it's tempting to limit the water we drink. After all, if we don't have to go to the bathroom, as often won't that help our symptoms?
In fact, staying hydrated is always important for pelvic and bladder health. You can work with a pelvic PT to reduce your symptoms, but drinking enough water is critical for both overall and pelvic floor health. Check out the reasons below!
Stay Hydrated: You should be drinking half of your body weight (in ounces) each day. For example, if you weigh 150 lbs you should be drinking at least 75 oz of water (more than 4.5 regular-size bottles of water) each day!
Below we list the four reasons staying hydrated is so critical for pelvic health!
Who are We at PelvicSanity?
At PelvicSanity, it's our mission to support patients with pelvic pain and pelvic floor symptoms, regardless of where you live. We can help with:
In-person treatment for those in Southern California at the PelvicSanity clinic
Immersive Out-of-Town program for those able to travel
Remote Consultations to get you expert 1:1 help, advice and an action plan
Online patient courses on Interstitial Cystitis and Movement for Pelvic Health
A Facebook support group for patients called Finding Pelvic Sanity.
5 REASONS STAYING HYDRATED IS CRITICAL!
1. Flushing bodily waste
Water is critical to ridding your body of toxins and bodily waste. It helps the blood enter your cells with nutrients and carry away waste, which your kidneys, liver and other organs work to eliminate from the body.
2. Reducing constipation
Drinking the recommended amount of water daily is important for bowel health. Almost 3 in 4 people with pelvic health issues also have constipation or other bowel problems as well. Make sure to stay hydrated to keep the bowels moving and avoid constipation!
For more information on constipation and how to do colon massage to help, check out this link!
3. Reduce the risk of UTIs
The body needs to flush waste from your bladder to prevent UTIs. When we reduce water consumption to try and help our pelvic health symptoms we can actually be making a UTI more likely.
(If you are dealing with UTIs make sure to work with a pelvic PT. We can prevent UTIs and get to the underlying 'why' so you don't keep getting them! Here's an article we wrote on preventing UTIs - both real and phantom!)
4. Overall Health
Water is necessary for almost all of our bodily functions. From making our skin clean and bright, optimal brain function, digestion, and more - there's no area that staying hydrated doesn't affect!
Dr. Nicole Cozean is the founder of PelvicSanity Physical Therapy in Orange County, CA. PelvicSanity treats patients from all over the world with remote consultations and the Immersive Out of Town Program. She also runs Pelvic PT Rising, training other pelvic PTs to better serve patients.
Named Physical Therapist of the Year, Dr. Nicole is author of the award-winning book The Interstitial Cystitis Solution and the first PT to serve on the ICA Board of Directors, Her passion is helping those with pelvic health issues - regardless of where they live - find lasting relief.