Every Pelvic Floor Physio Should Read This

One of the concepts we spend a lot of time teaching in RAPID Core is intra-abdominal pressure.

Ask any pelvic floor physiotherapist and they’ll tell you just how important it is.

Improving the management of intra-abdominal pressure is central to treating incontinence, pelvic organ prolapse, pregnancy and postpartum recovery, breathing mechanics, core function, and many forms of low back and pelvic pain.

Most of us think of intra-abdominal pressure as something that stabilizes the spine.

That is certainly part of the story.

But a fascinating new study published in Nature Neuroscience suggests it may be doing much more.

Researchers discovered that when the abdominal muscles contract and intra-abdominal pressure rises, the brain actually moves slightly within the skull.

Not because the head moved.

Not because of the heartbeat.

Because pressure generated in the abdomen was transmitted through the body’s venous system.

Even more interesting, the brain often began moving before the body did. The nervous system prepared the body for movement, intra-abdominal pressure increased, and the brain shifted.

The researchers believe these tiny movements may help circulate cerebrospinal fluid and the fluid surrounding brain cells. They also suggest these mechanical forces could stimulate cells that respond to pressure and movement.

This research was performed in mice, so we cannot assume the exact same effects occur in humans. But it adds another fascinating piece to a growing puzzle.

In RAPID we teach that intra-abdominal pressure is far more than a spinal stability strategy.

It changes pressure throughout the trunk.

It influences force transmission.

It affects breathing.

It changes the mechanical environment the nervous system operates within.

Now we’re seeing evidence that it may even influence the mechanics of the brain itself.

The more we learn, the harder it becomes to separate mechanics from neurology.

Movement creates pressure.

Pressure creates information.

The nervous system is listening to all of it.

Til next week, remember a happy core likely equals a happy brain!

-Rob and Sherry

RAPID NeuroFascial Reset- The Truth Is In The Results