Tension headaches in the Pelvic Floor?

Tension and the pelvic floor

Tension in the pelvic floor can aggravate, or even create, symptoms like vaginal or pelvic pain (including pelvic girdle pain), pelvic organ prolapse (POP), and stress urinary incontinence or urgency.

We all understand the connection between stress -> tension in neck and shoulders -> headache. It’s called a tension headache. The same causation exists elsewhere in the body too. Especially in the pelvic floor!

The pelvic floor is very reactive to feelings of threat and fear. These feelings will automatically increase the amount of tension held in the pelvis. Tension is very typically something that aggravates symptoms in the pelvic floor area.

This tension is present in both muscles and myofascial tissue and can become normal for you. It can create areas of specific tension, called trigger points. These areas of tension can also feed into the surrounding body parts, like your hips and tummy.

Tension in the pelvic floor is, or can be, quite deep rooted. It’s not always as simple as “just relaxing a little”. It’s worth looking a little deeper:

What are the emotions linked to your pelvic floor, or past experiences that might be presenting as threatening? What are other contributing factors like previous injuries, side differences or foot wear - and addressing these issues.

Tension elsewhere in the body

Tension elsewhere in the body can also affect what’s going on in the pelvic floor - it goes both ways. If you are a “tummy-gripper” for example and spend a lot of time holding your tummy in, it will create more pressure downwards to the pelvic floor. This will increase tension and activity in the pelvic floor as it works to counter-act the increased pressure from above.

If you have tight hip rotators, it’s likely you also have a tight pelvic floor. These muscles border each other and work very closely together. The same applies to your inner thighs, which attaches very near to the front part of the pelvic floor.

If you typically clench your jaw and have noticed that you hold a lot of tension in the area, it can be a sign that tensing your body is a typical strategy for you. So if you clench your jaw, it’s more likely that you’re also clenching your pelvic floor.

Feet can harbour a lot of tension as well, which may affect the way your whole leg is working, and even what’s happening up in and around your hips. This can happen through myofascial chains or from the way you use your feet. For example, if your feet often point very clearly outwards, it means your hips are also rotated outwards increasing tension in the deep hip rotators and potentially in the pelvic floor.

Feet are important in the way your body absorbs impact. The better this mechanism works in the foot level, the less impact there will be for the pelvic floor!

Tension in the body is common as women deal with pelvic symptoms. Partly, I believe, because we find the symptoms and the diagnosis so threatening and worry about what it might mean for our futures.

My tip today for you is to be curious about the amount of tension you have in your body. Address it. Addressing it can mean practicing mindfulness, mobility work, scar release, more movement, hypopressives, eliminating stress where possible, journaling about your emotions and experiences, or mental health support. There are many ways to work with tension, so find the tools that feel right for you - they are most likely the ones that will work best.