That familiar discomfort – the swollen belly, the feeling of fullness even without overeating. For many, bloating is a frustratingly common experience, often attributed directly to what we’ve consumed. But what if the culprit wasn’t solely our diet?
After a meal, or even first thing in the morning, you feel discomfort in your stomach. Your belly is swollen, you have no desire to eat, in short, you feel bloated.
This common phenomenon can have multiple causes, but most often, diet is the culprit. So, to remedy this, you’ve likely already tried removing certain products from your diet known for their effects on the digestive system. Onions, garlic, or even dairy products may have already disappeared from your plate.
And sometimes, even after removing these foods from your daily meals, nothing changes: bloating always ends up arriving at one point or another.
But what if the cause of this bloating was actually your muscles? This is what general practitioner, Trisha Pasricha explained to the Washington Post, detailing a phenomenon called abdomino-phrenic dyssynergia.
When your muscles make your belly swell
Behind this complicated name lies a relatively simple physical phenomenon. To understand it, the specialist suggests considering the abdominal cavity, that is, the hollow part of the torso that contains the internal organs, as a cardboard box. The diaphragm would then be its lid, and the abdominal muscles its sides.
“If we started to push down on the lid of the box, the sides would have to bend,” she describes. However, this reaction would also occur in your body: during a bloating episode, it’s your diaphragm that descends.
With this movement, the abdominal wall relaxes in turn, and these two simultaneous movements push forward everything that is in the cavity, such as the stomach and intestines. Result: you feel bloated, even after changing your diet (or having eaten nothing yet).
Understanding why the belly swells
So, how can you recognize that bloating comes from abdomino-phrenic dyssynergia?
“Systematically evaluate dietary triggers: lactose intolerance or other classic foods like cruciferous vegetables, lentils, and beans are responsible for bloating in a third of patients,” says Trisha Pasricha.
She advises against drastically depriving yourself of a particular food or an entire category of products without the advice of a healthcare professional. While having a swollen belly from time to time is completely normal, bloating should not affect your quality of life, so it is important to consult a general practitioner if this is the case, she reminds us.
“Talk openly about your bowel habits with your doctor,” adds the specialist, “they can also help you determine if your pelvic floor may be exacerbating your symptoms.” Indeed, if we return to the famous cardboard box, the pelvic floor would be the bottom of this box. “This can therefore also contribute to bloating when these muscles do not coordinate correctly,” the specialist explains.
Muscle exercises against bloating
So, if your bloating is related to the muscles of the perineum or the diaphragm pushing your abdominal wall to relax, certain muscle exercises can help you.
“Specific physiotherapy exercises, called biofeedback, can train patients to mobilize their diaphragm and reduce bloating,” continues Trisha Pasricha, “they involve lifting the chest and contracting the abdominal wall.”
It might also be possible to control your bloating through breathing, which can also affect the diaphragm. However, the general practitioner notes that more research is needed to prove their effectiveness on bloating.
