Pelvic Floor PT/OT Interoception

Authors: Madelyn Levasseur MS, OTR/L

Interoception is not a word that many people are familiar with, but it can be a key part in helping both adult and pediatric pelvic floor clients learn to address their pelvic floor symptoms and independently manage their pelvic floor needs during and after discharge from therapy. 

Interoception can be a complex idea to understand. Some people define interoception as similar to our body’s senses (like smell, touch, taste). Interoception is how we sense our internal body cues, interpret those cues, and then make a decision to regulate that signal if needed.

For example, sensing that your stomach is rumbling is an internal body cue. Your brain and body then make an assumption regarding what that stomach rumbling may mean – maybe you are hungry, or have some gas, or need to go to the bathroom. This assumption is going to inform your decision about what to do next. For example, if you decide my stomach is rumbling because you are hungry, you will probably choose to eat. If you were actually hungry, then you will feel better, your stomach will stop rumbling and you will avoid getting fatigued or grouchy from being hungry for too long. If you were not hungry, but had gas then eating probably will not make you feel better and you can try again with another strategy to help your stomach feel better. 

Interoception can be hard to learn as a child or an adult because many of the ways that we live do not always teach us to listen to our body signal throughout our day. As children, we may learn to toilet train by going to the bathroom with our peers on a schedule at school and may miss some of those important pre-signals of our bladder filling. This may make it hard to urinate based on our body’s cues moving forward.

The good news about interoception is that focusing on any of your body signals can make it easier to focus on all of them! Acknowledging and paying attention to how your body feels when it is hot or cold and then making a change to be more comfortable can be a great first step before working on some of the more complex or harder to interpret signals like bladder filling.