3 Ways to Manage Intra-Abdominal Pressure During Pregnancy

Are you pregnant and wondering how to prevent common post-partum complications? Maybe you’ve been pregnant before and struggled with pelvic pain or prolapse post-partum. If this sounds like you, a very important concept to review during pregnancy is managing intra-abdominal pressure (IAP). This is essential to minimize your risk of a large diastasis recti (DR – an abdominal separation), pelvic/back pain, and prolapse. 

What is IAP? IAP is the pressure in your abdomen that naturally increases when you breathe. A baby growing inside your abdomen causes more and more IAP, putting strain on the abdominal wall and displacing organs. This also contributes to the fascia at the front of the abdomen (linea alba) stretching and expanding. This expansion is somewhat inevitable and normal throughout pregnancy. Everyone will get a diastasis recti (DR), but people will have different degrees of it, and different experiences postpartum with healing. Some of this is determined by things you can’t control like connective tissue disorders and having a short torso. And some of it is determined by things you can control, such as learning how to manage the increased IAP. 

How do we do this?

Proper Breathing

Ideally, IAP management should be a natural, automatic reflex. When we breathe in, we should have an expansion of our lower ribs, as the pelvic floor relaxes, and as we exhale, we should have gentle activation of the pelvic floor (without bearing down – INCREASING IAP). This may need to be retrained during pregnancy as posture and breathing patterns can shift and throw off this process. Focus on breathing into your lower ribs at the front, sides, and back. We want to avoid upper chest and belly breathing. Breathing with proper mechanics also helps strengthen our deep core and pelvic floor muscles, which further helps manage IAP and contributes to more successful outcomes for moms post-partum. Win-win!

Avoid Breath Holding

Sometimes during exertion like heavy lifting or during exercise, we can forget to breathe. This increases IAP and puts a lot of pressure on the connective tissue at the front of the abdomen as well as pressure on the pelvic organs such as your bladder. Remember to always exhale on exertion, and always check in during exercise to make sure you are not holding your breath. 

Manage Constipation

More water and more fiber are your friends during pregnancy. Constipation can lead to straining during bowel movements, hugely increasing IAP. Do not strain during bowel movements. If you feel yourself starting to do this, exhale throughout to reduce the pressure. A squatty potty can also help – this puts your pelvis in an ideal position for elimination, which takes tension off your pelvic floor muscles and organs and decreases the need to strain. 

It is amazing what women’s bodies can do to accommodate a growing baby! Be mindful of these tips throughout pregnancy to keep your pelvic floor, abdominal wall, and pelvic organs as healthy as possible. Remember that everyone will get some level of abdominal separation, but it’s about managing IAP to reduce the severity! 

Contact us today to speak to one of your pelvic health specialists to learn more about your body during pregnancy, postpartum, and beyond!