How to Tell If Your Feet Are Affecting Your Pelvic Floor
In our last blog, we talked about why the feet are important to pelvic floor function. If you haven’t read that one yet, I’d recommend starting there—it’ll make this post make a lot more sense. You can check it out here.
The goal of this blog isn’t to diagnose or “test” your pelvic floor or feet at home. Instead, it’s meant to help you notice patterns in how your body moves and interacts with the ground—because those patterns influence how your pelvic floor responds during everyday life.
And just to be clear: if you’re dealing with pelvic floor symptoms, seeing a pelvic floor physical therapist is important. This information is about awareness, not replacing individualized care.
Quick review: Why your feet matter
If you missed the last blog, here’s a quick refresher.
Your feet are your body’s first point of contact with the ground. With every step, jump, or shift of weight, your body has to interpret the surface underneath you and send that information up the chain.
That input changes depending on:
The surface you’re on
How much impact is involved
How well your foot can move and adapt
When your foot hits the ground, its job is to absorb and dissipate force.
If it does that job well, the rest of the body has to do less.
If it doesn’t, other areas have to pick up the slack… ahem 👀 the pelvic floor.
Where and how force enters the foot also influences how and when the pelvic floor reacts. That’s why foot mechanics can matter more than you might think.
whole body clues to pay attention to
When we start looking at whether the feet might be influencing the pelvic floor, we zoom out first and look at overall movement patterns.
Ask yourself:
When you’re standing, where do you feel most of your weight? Front? Back? Middle? One spot only?
Do your feet or calves often feel tight or tense?
Do you feel like you’re constantly stretching them?
Do you grip the floor with your toes for stability?
Have single-leg exercises always felt really hard?
Do your feet cramp often?
How we move gives us clues about the strategies our body uses for stability and control. Those strategies affect how force is transferred through the foot and up the chain.
These patterns can suggest that your body is searching for stability from the ground up—which may change how load is transferred to the pelvis and pelvic floor.
A few important clarifications:
There is no single “right” place to feel your weight in your foot.
Your weight may shift throughout the day and with different tasks.
What we look for is whether your weight is always stuck in one area.
If your feet or calves always feel tense, it may mean they’re not moving well enough—or they’re moving too quickly to control the movement. That can affect how well your body absorbs shock and transfers force up into the pelvis.
If your toes grip the ground during challenging exercises, that can actually interfere with the foot’s ability to connect to the ground and absorb force—potentially increasing demand on the pelvic floor.
These observations are just awareness tools. Noticing them does not mean something is wrong, and it doesn’t automatically mean your feet are causing your pelvic floor symptoms. It simply tells us where it may be worth paying attention.
Simple self assessment
Standing on 2 feet
It can be helpful to stand in front of a mirror.
Stand with your weight evenly distributed between:
Your big toe
Your pinky toe
Your heel
Now notice your arch.
Is it high? Very close to the ground? Somewhere in between?
There’s no “perfect” arch. We’re simply noticing how your foot organizes itself when you’re standing.
standing on 1 foot
Shift your weight onto one foot and observe what happens.
Does your arch change and adapt?
Does it drop quickly?
Does it barely move at all?
This gives us information about how your foot adapts during single-leg tasks like walking, stairs, and running. If the foot struggles to adapt, more demand may be placed on the pelvis and pelvic floor to create stability.
ankle mobiliity
Your ankle needs enough movement to allow the foot to move and adapt.
Try this:
Start in a half-kneeling position (one knee down, the other foot forward).
Keep your front heel on the ground.
Move your knee forward over your foot.
Ideally, your knee should be able to move past your toes. Limited ankle motion can restrict how your foot absorbs force.
plantar fascia mobility
Sit down and feel the bottom of your foot from heel to toes.
Press straight down
Or press and gently glide your hand along the tissue
Does it feel very tight or tender? Or does it feel relatively neutral?
Your plantar fascia needs to be able to stretch so your midfoot can move. If it’s restricted, that movement—and force absorption—can be limited.
toe mobility
Can you separate your toes from each other? or is it almost impossible to get them to move away from each other
The bones in your foot should be able to spread and adapt to the ground. Limited toe movement or control can change how efficiently your body absorbs force.
why this matters for the pelvic floor
The pelvic floor works automatically. It responds to how force enters the body.
If the foot doesn’t absorb or control load well, that force travels upward more aggressively. Over time, the pelvic floor may:
Grip
Fatigue
Lose coordination
Not because it’s weak—but because it’s doing more than its share of the work.
a whole-body approach matters
At Empower Physical Therapy & Wellness, we take a whole-body approach.
Yes, we assess the pelvic floor—but we also look at:
Foot mobility and control
How well you connect through your midfoot
Pelvic mobility
Pelvic floor strength and coordination
The pelvic floor often gets blamed because that’s where symptoms show up. But many times, other parts of the body are influencing how the pelvic floor functions.
Finding the root cause is what helps symptoms actually stay away.
Noticing one or two of these patterns doesn’t mean your feet are “the problem,” and it doesn’t mean you need to fix everything at once. But if several of these signs resonate with you, your feet may be influencing how your pelvic floor is functioning.
A whole-body pelvic floor assessment can help connect those dots and guide the right next steps.
Dig Deeper: Uncover More Secrets to Pelvic Floor Health
Hi! We are Dr.Aimee and Dr. Lauren
We are the owners of Empower Physical Therapy and Wellness. We are pelvic floor physical therapists who specialize in helping women from pregnancy, into postpartum and through perimenopause, menopause and then beyond! We believe all women deserve to do all of the things they love without symptoms!
You can contact us via our website, email at hello@weempowerpt.com or social media!
The information provided in this blog is for educational and informational purposes only and is not intended as medical advice. Always seek the advice of your physician or other qualified health provider with any questions you may have regarding a medical condition or symptoms. Never disregard professional medical advice or delay in seeking it because of something you have read on this blog.
If you think you may have a medical emergency, call your doctor, go to the emergency department, or call 911 immediately. The opinions expressed in this blog are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of any medical or healthcare institutions.
