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Location: London, England | Hi Tourist,
Wouldn't wearing heels make clambering around on the toilet even more dangerous that people have already said? 
I appreciate what you are saying about not being able to make statements about populations in different geographical locations, but you can make generalized observations. Once again according to Sapsford: 'Squatting positionsvary from East to West.Note the different lumbar spine positions, occuring with limited tendo-achilles extensibility. The flexed spine does not facilitate rectal emptyng.' When you see most Westerners attempt a squatting position (and i have personally never witnessed anyone who is an exception to this rule in twenty years of yoga teaching) they will flextheir spines. Whether one decides to sit or squat, it is important to keep a straight spine and flex at the pelvis. This helps to control the descent of the pelvic floor and enables us to use the diaphragm muscle to aid defaecation. The position should allow the abdominal wall to bulge-when you see most people squat, the abdominal wall contracts and hollows, resulting in the diaphragm being too high and losing its functional status. This also causes the abnormal descent of the pelvic floor, which can be greater than 2-3 cm-advising a patient with a bladder prolapse to squat can then be seen to be a very misguided piece of advice, which could go drastically wrong for the patient.
Secondly, straining at defaecation has been shown to be be a causative factor in prolapse, and a faulty body position does not help. One of the best pieces of advice we can give to women is to use a footstall about 10-15 cm high. Young girls should not be encouraged to use the toilet without a footstall, which will then encourage them to have good posture and encourage abdominal bracing and proper descent of the pelvic floor muscles. Forward pelvic tilting(which does not tend to happen in the western style squat) will encourage the defaecation process.
How do we rehabilitate the pelvic floor?
In all effort activities-cough, lift, push, drag, sneeze and nose blow, pelvic floor muscle (PFM) suppport is required. In occupations where heavy lifting is the norm, the PFM are overloaded (yoga, for instance). Moola bandha is a technique whereby the PFM are strengthened in order to counter increased loads. Alternative methods of supporting the pelvic floor are to utilize and strengthen the transversus abdominus and internal oblique abdominals which can activate the anterior levator support, whilst activating TrA and the internal and external obliques can activate the posterior levator support. The two methods of abdominal contraction described above are known as abdominal hollowing and abdominal bracing respectively.
I thought it might be interesting to look at a cat-the sneezing pattern has been adapted from animal function, most notably the cat. The cat's tail acts as the insertion for its levator muscles. The cat uses its tail as reinforcement during sneezing. The tial is wrapped around the cat's body as the animal sits to sneeze. The cat braces, closes its glottis, and uses its existing lung capacity prior to exhaling. As the cat releases the brace, it creates a valve with the tongue moving away from the roof of the mouth. Sounds like ujjayi breathing and bandha!
Humans make three errors-they inhale deeply at the first warning of a sneeze, they vocalize the sneeze, and they do not attempt to utilize the PFM or the abdominal muscles. This results in a downward thrust on the PFM which may result in loss of continence or even prolapse. Squeeze before you sneeze!! In order to sneeze properly, brace the abdominal muscles as the 'id' sound is made, and 'choo' as the diaphragm contracts forcefully to expel the air.
Thought it may be useful to look at a real life situation rather than one which we are manufacturing-our yoga practice. |
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Location: London, England | Dear Jonathon108
I don't know where you got your information from regarding correct defaecation patterns-as I stated in my last post, the pelvic floor is supposed to descend-if it remained tight you could not defaecate. You also discourage the valsalva maneuvre-but defaecation is one of the activities that the valsalva maneuvre is designed to make easier. You also mention pelvic floor prolpase-I have never heard of this-do you mean bladder or uterine prolapse? You also say that a third of women have a hysterectomy-where do you get this figure from? And where do you get the statement 'almost all men develop prostate problems'? And the statement 'the pelvic floor descends over time' -where do you get this information? I am very interested because all of the above disputes everything that I have learnt on the human body, and so I would love to check out your sources-one of us has been barking up the wrong tree, which is a bit perturbing for me because it menas i have just wasted a decade, so I hope it's you who's barking and not me!
Take care
Nick |
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Location: London, England | Hi Pixy 19
Can I ask you what form your symptoms take? do you suffer from bed-wetting, 'giggle incontinence,' urgency? Is the prolapse of the bladder or uterus? If you would like to you can e-mail me, but it may be educational for people using this site to be involved-also there may be someone who is actually involved in women's health who can back up or dispute what I say. It's up to you. Take care
Nick |
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| Dear Nick,
I suggest you read the website carefully and check all the references. My letter to Yoga International was vetted by the editorial board before publication. They don't waste valuable space in their highly respected magazine by publishing frivolous or misleading letters.
Squatting is absolutely natural for all human beings, regardless of their racial background. It's as universal as any other aspect of Yoga. The difference between Eastern and Western populations results from different cultural habits, not from anything genetic or anatomical.
You haven't wasted a decade. You've just prepared yourself for the next stage of evolution.
Namaste!
~ Jonathan
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Location: London, England | Dear Jonathon 108,
I went to the website-very interesting, but I would agree with others who have made the observation that it is a commercial site which has a vested interest in us believing the antomical/physiological blueprint that it lays out. The posture that is dispalyed in tne diagram of the person sitting on the toilet is indeed one that would inhibit defaecation-but on the other hand, so is the posture in the diagram of the person squatting. In both instances, the pelvis is tilted posteriorily and the spine is flexed. People should be taught to sit properly on the toilet, to encourage a straight back, correct pelvic tilt, and lengthening from the pubis to the rib cage. Straining should be discouraged.
By slumping on the toilet or in a squatting position, rectus abdominus is shortened which can lead to tightening of puborectalis, and the transversus abdominus may be more difficult to recruit in this position.
Squatting takes our centre of gravity behind our weight-bearing base, making a good body posture very hard to maintain.
Both yoga and ballet share a risk of encouraging women to adopt a posterior pelvic tilt-the squatting position that you encourage is an example of a yoga position which would lead a woman to a tendency to adopt the posterior tilt. This may lead to an uncoordinated defaecation pattern. Swimmers are also at risk as they develop all the abdominopelvic floor muscles. Swimmers and ballerinas are elite athletes who often sustain gross neuropathy during childbirth, as the relveant musculature cannot relax, orhas limited extensibility, during the expulsive phase of childbirth. There is a good chance that we can add woemn yoga practicioners to the list of at risk women, at least if we encourage them to adopt a posterior pelvic tilt, which is demonstrated by the person squatting in the website you recommended. Remember, this is not an attack on you personally, but is really just an attempt to get at the truth-the natures platform website is very beguiling, but at the end of the day makes some glaring anatomical and physiological errors which are unforgivable, as they would bascially screw up a woman's health rather than add to it. Take care
Nick |
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Location: London, England | To Jonathon 108
Do you not think that it would have been relevant to disclose that you are the inventor of the device being sold on the Nature's platform website? All I had to do was to put your name on a search engine to find out that you took out the patent. One of the members even said that the fact that the website was trying to sell a device which claimed to be able to cure thevarious conditions that were documented on the same site. You failed even then to disclose that you were the inventor. You have been economical with the truth to an extent that I do not wish to have any more discussion with you, kindly refrain from peddling yourself onthis site. The practice of yoga should aim to bring us closer to the truth, and to have people like you does not help.
Dear Newtoyoga,
I am sorry that you have ben targeted by this individual, it is a shame that when some one like you needs help, that people like this see an opportunity to make some cash. My name is Nicholas Porucznik-if any of you want to make sure that i am not trying to peddle my own commercial interests, please do so.
I am sorry for my impatient tone, but I discovered that I thought I was trying to help by using what little knowledge I have, and then found out that the person whom I thought had the same intent had motives which are not entirely altruistic. Once again, I apologise to you all, apart from you, Jonathon Nisbit
Take care
Nick |
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bladder prolapse/pelvic floor muscles
