Why Your Foot Matters More Than You Think for Pelvic Floor Health
The pelvic floor is part of a whole- body system
Your pelvic floor doesn’t work in isolation. It’s constantly reacting to changes in pressure, how your body meets the ground, the load you’re carrying, and how you move through space. One area that’s often overlooked when we talk about pelvic health is the foot. The way your foot hits the ground sets off a chain reaction that travels up through your body—all the way to your pelvis and pelvic floor. When the foot isn’t doing its job well, the pelvic floor often has to work harder to compensate, which can contribute to symptoms like leaking, pressure, or pain. In this blog, we’ll break down how your foot supports pelvic floor function, what happens when it isn’t working optimally, and why this connection matters for pelvic floor health.
Why Foot Mobility Matters
So why does foot mobility matter? Your foot is designed to adapt to the ground beneath you. When your foot first lands, it should be able to move and absorb shock, and then gradually become more stable to help you push off and move forward. This balance between mobility and control is what allows your body to move efficiently. When the foot is able to pronate well—meaning the arch gently flattens as your foot hits the ground—it helps absorb impact and sets the rest of the leg up to continue managing that load. This protects the joints and tissues above it. But if the foot doesn’t pronate enough, or if it collapses too quickly, that smooth chain reaction is disrupted, and the way force travels up the body changes
What Happens When the Foot Can’t Absorb Shock Well
As we mentioned above, when your foot hits the ground it should move into pronation. This motion helps absorb shock and sets the rest of the leg up to continue dissipating forces as they travel upward through your body.
There are two main ways the foot can struggle to do this job well. First, it may not move enough into pronation. In this case, the arch in the middle of the foot doesn’t lower as it should when you land. This can happen due to limited motion in the midfoot bones, stiffness at the ankle, or decreased mobility in soft tissues like the plantar fascia.
The second issue is when the foot moves into pronation too quickly. Instead of a smooth, controlled motion, the foot essentially collapses. This often points to a lack of strength or control in the foot and ankle rather than a mobility issue alone.
When the foot can’t absorb shock effectively—either because it doesn’t move enough or because it moves too fast—ground reaction forces travel upward more aggressively. This increases the demand on the knees, hips, core, and pelvic floor. When the pelvic floor is forced to help absorb shock, it has less capacity to do its primary jobs: managing pressure and supporting the pelvic organs.
Finding the middle of your foot in a controlled way is important to make sure shock is absorbed correctly and not overworking the pelvic floor but it is also really important in getting the pelvic floor to react. Getting connected to your midfoot helps you move through your pelvis easier which is what will influence your pelvic floor the most.
How Foot Position Influences Pelvic Position
Changes in how you load and connect into your feet can directly influence pelvic position. Your pelvic floor attaches to the entire underside of your pelvis, so when the position of the pelvis changes, the pelvic floor changes with it. This can be both a good thing and a not-so-helpful thing.
The positive side is that we can intentionally use foot position and pressure to help the pelvic floor do what we want it to do. The flip side is that it also helps explain how foot mechanics can contribute to pelvic floor symptoms. Connecting into different parts of the foot can influence how different parts of the pelvis move, including whether the bottom of the pelvis becomes slightly wider or narrower. These subtle shifts can place the pelvic floor in a better position to contract or relax—or, if not well controlled, in a shorter, more tense position.
If the body struggles to move through different parts of the foot, it often struggles to move the pelvis well too. That can limit pelvic mobility and slow pelvic floor reaction time, both of which are important for normal, automatic pelvic floor function.
Why This Matters for Pelvic Floor Function
Your pelvic floor works primarily involuntarily, meaning you’re not consciously turning it on throughout the day. When it needs to respond, it does so very quickly—much faster than you could ever think to squeeze it on purpose. Because of this, pelvic floor health is less about constantly trying to “turn it on” and more about giving your body the right input so it can produce the right output when it matters.
Different movements require different pelvic floor responses. Picking up a piece of paper off the floor places very different demands on your body than lifting a 50-pound box or jumping. If your pelvic floor responded with a maximal contraction every time, it would fatigue quickly and lose its ability to support you during higher-demand activities.
This is where the foot–pelvic floor connection becomes so important. Training this connection helps reduce excessive gripping, improves coordination, and supports reflexive pelvic floor activity—allowing the pelvic floor to respond automatically with the right amount of support for the task. When we improve how you connect into different parts of your foot, especially the midfoot, it influences how your pelvis moves and positions itself. Those subtle changes in pelvic position help set the pelvic floor up to function more effectively.
This is also why focusing only on isolated squeezing or kegels often falls short. Real-life movement requires coordination, timing, and adaptability—not constant maximal contraction.
What This Means If You’re Experiencing Symptoms
If you’ve been struggling with pelvic floor symptoms such as leaking, pressure or heaviness, pain with intimacy, urinary urgency or frequency, pelvic pain, or hip and low back discomfort, taking a whole-body approach matters. Pelvic floor symptoms are rarely caused by just one thing, and how your body interacts with the ground—starting at your feet—can play a bigger role than most people realize.
If you’re curious whether your foot may be helping or hindering your pelvic floor function, we’ll be breaking that down in an upcoming blog. And if you’re ready to take control of your symptoms now and want care that looks beyond just one area of the body, we’re here to help. Schedule your first visit with us to get started with a comprehensive, whole-body approach to pelvic 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.
