Hi I'm Michelle and today I'm going to show you how to empty your bowels in three easy steps so
that you can avoid straining. When you empty, it's really important to avoid straining when emptying
your bowels, because repeatedly straining can cause hemorrhoids, prolapse problems and problems
with your bladder and bowel. So you want to really avoid repeated straining if you can. So let's get
started with the correct position to set you up for success with your technique. Let's start,
I'm going to turn side-on to you so that you can see what I'm doing in the side position. First
step is taking the feet apart, so they need to be quite apart. Okay some people like to use a
stool. Now a foot stool can elevate your knees higher than your hips which is a nice position,
but it depends on your height, and it depends on the height of the toilet as well. So if you're a
shorter person, you might need to use a stool. But I'm fairly tall and I don't need to use a
stool to empty the bowel, so it's up to you and depending on your height, so you don't need to
necessarily use a stool. You can use a couple of toilet rolls wrapped instead if you need to.
So your feet are apart, hands supported on your knees and leaning your body forward. It’s really
important to maintain the inward curve in your lower back throughout the whole movement and keep
your spine straight throughout. So feet flat, legs apart, straight spine and upper body supported are
the key things. Now here are your three steps and this is the MOO technique. When you start,
start by taking three or four relaxed deep breaths and when you breathe, breathe into your tummy. So
I'd like you to breathe in, breathe into your belly and relax the breath and again breathe
in right down to the base of your lungs let your belly bulge forward and relax. Just do a couple
more times breathing in and out and sometimes just the breathing itself can help you get started with
the bowel movement helping to relax the pelvic floor. One more time breathing in and out now the
second part step two is to make your waist wide. Now you're pushing power comes from the sides,
the muscles around the side of the trunk not down through the bottom. Okay so we don't want to push
down, we want to actually make our pressure come from the sides,so to do this we make the sound
‘mmm’ so if you say ‘mmm’ you'll find the sides push wide. If you can feel that, you can feel
that beneath your ribcage ‘mmm’ you'll feel that pressure there so make the ‘mmm’ sound. Then step
three is to make the sound ‘ooo’ and when you say ‘ooo’ your tummy bulges forward at the same
time it’s important that your lower tummy bulges forward. It opens up the anal spincter and helps
to release the pelvic floor muscles which allows the stool to pass. If you're pulling your tummy in
and pushing down your anal sphincter will tighten up, so you need to sit tall, ‘mmm’ waist wide so
I'm imagining myself maybe like a barrel shape as I bulge my tummy forward, and say ‘ooo” and
hold both the moves throughout. If you need to push further, say ‘mmm’ again to push further,
keep pushing, and then release. Now I'm obviously holding my sides here,
you'd be leaning forward with that technique supporting your trunk, and at the end of the
movement lift and squeeze through your pelvic openings to finish off the movement altogether.
So we've gone through the three steps there, and in addition to setting up the correct technique,
relaxed breathing for starters, then say ‘mmm’ and then ‘ooo’. So I really hope this technique
helps you to empty at home. If you're still having problems with your bowel emptying, you might find
that the stool is too hard and you can watch my video linked up above for foods that actually
help to keep the stool soft. Otherwise thanks so much for watching today. I really hope this video
helps you. You can subscribe below for more of my videos and I'll see you next time. Bye for now.