A lot of hypermobile kids and adults get constipated. If they have low muscle tone along with hypermobility, or are couch potatoes, being constipated is even more common. This can lead to extended periods of sitting on the toilet to have a bowel movement. They bring in a screen (ewww!) or a magazine. And sit there for a good long while.
Don’t do it!
These marathon sessions, waiting for nature to call or thinking that the Squatty Potty bench is going to impart a magical effect on motility, can harm hypermobile folks of every age. It is particularly risky for older women who have given birth or people of any age that have had a history of pelvic floor dysfunction. But it is always a bad idea for anyone hypermobile to sit more than about 10 minutes waiting to poop, and can become risky after even 5 minutes for some people.
WHY?
- Toilets are hard surfaces. Sitting too long on a low, hard surface produces a lot of force on pelvic ligaments and the spine. Hypermobility makes it harder to remain sitting in alignment over time, so compensatory leaning, flexing, and rotating usually occur. These are positions that no one thinks are good chair choices. So why allow them on the toilet?
- Toilets aren’t chairs. There is no back support and so it is more work to remain sitting on a toilet. If nature isn’t ready to “do the deal”, wasting precious physical endurance is not smart.
- The forces generated by upper body weight through the hypermobile pelvic floor don’t facilitate elimination. They can directly slow it down instead. Downward pressure into the abdominal cavity could slow the movement of feces, not speed it up. The peristaltic contractions that move feces through the rectum, into the anal canal, and out the anus are what gets the job done. Getting up and moving around, contracting the oblique abdominal musculature, could do a lot more for elimination than sitting on the toilet.
Many of the families that I work with are afraid that bulking agents like Metamucil will be harmful. They are not fully aware of the harm of chronic constipation. It can affect mobility and endurance. It can make someone distracted and cranky. It can stretch that pelvic floor to the extent that surgery is the only solution. Adding insoluble fiber in the diet is important, as is sufficient hydration. And movement. Lots of active movement.
Wait until nature calls to sit on the toilet, then answer that call as quickly as possible.
Get up and wipe.
And get off the toilet. You can always return.
Need help with wiping?
I cover all the best strategies to teach and refine wiping in BOTH of my toilet training books!
