Pelvic ground workouts have been a scorching matter for some time now. You’ve got doubtless seen articles, TikTok movies, and Instagram posts touting the advantages of strikes like Kegels as the important thing to raised intercourse and stopping urinary incontinence. However what you have in all probability by no means seen is somebody…stretch their tongue? Till now. Colleen Quigley, who ran for Group USA on the 2016 Rio Olympics, just lately posted a video on Instagram the place she pulls her tongue in several instructions to chill out her jaw, thereby releasing stress in her pelvic ground.
“1000% the weirdest muscle release I’ve ever done but I swear it works. Blame @dr.noahmoos for making us look foolish out here 😛,” her caption reads. (Noah Moos, DC, is a physician of chiropractic who works as a human efficiency specialist for Olympic medalists like Quigley, lengthy jumper Tara Davis-Woodhall, sprinter Hunter Woodhall, and different members of the Group USA Observe & Discipline roster.)
Within the video, Quigley makes use of her shirt to seize her tongue and pull it straight out, then to the left, then to the appropriate, then up and down, holding her tongue in every place for just a few seconds earlier than transferring on to the following. She says to attempt to chill out as finest you may whereas doing this.
“What this does is it can help you release muscles in your jaw, and your jaw is related to your pelvis via a fascial sling,” she says within the video.
And it is true, in accordance with Cate Schaffer, PT, DPT, multisite clinic director and pelvic ground therapist at ATI Bodily Remedy.
“Our pelvic floor and our jaw and tongue are connected through fascial developments that start with embryonic development,” she tells Effectively+Good. “This just means everything we do with our mouth—eating, talking, yawning—can be linked to our pelvic floor. On top of that, the vagus nerve also has connections to both the pelvic organs, tongue, and our larynx of our voice box. So in short, everything is connected.”
“Everything we do with our mouth—eating, talking, yawning—can be linked to our pelvic floor.”—Cate Schaffer, PT, DPT
Grayson Wickham, PT, DPT, founding father of stretching app Motion Vault, agrees.
“When it comes to connective tissue such as muscle, tendons, ligaments, everything is connected via fascia. There are lines of fascia that wrap the body in a way that makes some parts of the body more ‘connected’ to others,” he says. “The theory behind stretching your tongue is that releasing tension in the jaw via stretching your tongue can impact your pelvic floor due to being connected by this fascial system.”
In fact, if there’s tension in one area, typically there’s tension in the other, according to Dr. Schaffer.
“If your jaw is tight or you have breathing pattern changes the similarities travel down to the pelvic floor with tension, poor coordination, and possibly pain,” she says.
Whereas this tongue stretch works nice for Quigley, that does not imply it is assured to work for everybody, Dr. Schaffer says.
“In my opinion, most people are going to get more of a benefit from improving their activation in their pelvic floor muscles versus just passively stretching out their tongue and hoping for a release in tightness in their pelvic floor,” Dr. Wickham provides. “Will it hurt to passively stretch your tongue? Most likely not. Is it the most effective way to improve one’s pelvic floor? Again, probably not.”
However if you wish to give it a attempt, Dr. Schaffer recommends beginning with one to 2 minutes of small and delicate tongue pulling in several instructions, adopted by a gradual rest. It might even be useful to stretch or therapeutic massage your cheek or temporal muscle groups that hook up with the jaw, she says.
“Long-term muscle changes typically take six to eight weeks, but you may notice relaxation in your jaw, neck, or pelvic floor within just a few days of regular practice,” Dr. Shaffer says.