How to Poop on Vacation
Ah, vacation. Time for adventure, relaxation, poolside cocktails and… constipation? For many people, yes. Due to changes in diet, daily routine, sleep and dehydration from air travel and all that holiday drinking, many people choke, causing their stomachs to bloat, their intestines to become immobile, and their mood to deteriorate. (It’s hard to reach peak happiness if you haven’t rolled a single two in three days.)
While we’ve already written about small changes to your diet and lifestyle while traveling that can help clear your pipes, here we’ll share three methods suggested by Pelvic Health Physical Therapist Assistant Oriana Barger, who teaches people how to make a living. .
Scooping method
In a TikTok video that has been viewed by 7 million people, Barger demonstrated three methods for relieving constipation. First: Lie on your back, raise your knees, find your pelvic bones, and “scoop this tissue.” (Oriana is referring to the delicious skin between your thighbones, also known as your intestines, or FUPA—my words, not hers.)
She then teaches you to “find a solid spot” and hold onto that skin by taking three deep breaths, allowing your belly to fully expand with each breath. Barger told Buzzfeed that this gentle stretching of the lower abdominal tissue “helps stretch the front of the pelvic diaphragm. When we lengthen this tissue and release it, we allow blood flow to enter, potentially releasing any tissue restrictions that may be blocking proper functioning and mobility, i.e. making room for the gut.”
ILU massage method
The ILU method (named for the letters you form with your hands as you do it) uses your hands to follow the path of your colon, increasing the movement of food. In this technique, Barger advises starting at the right thigh bone and moving the hand straight up, across the upper abdomen and straight down the left side to the pelvic bone. The COVID Physical Therapy website describes the technique in more detail:
Using both hands, stroke with moderate pressure from under the left rib cage down to the front of the left thigh bone. (This forms an “I”.) Do this 10 times.
Then form an “L” by stroking with moderate pressure from the right side of the chest, under the chest to the left, and down to the left thigh. Do this 10 times.
We will now draw the letter “U” with 10 strokes from the front of the right thigh (caecum) to the right rib cage, through the left rib cage and down to the left thigh bone.
“ILU massage works similarly to the scooping method in that it softens any tissue restrictions in the abdomen along the path of the colon, ” Barger said . “It also stimulates blood flow to the colon, which promotes mechanical motility [which means] makes your colon move.”
Abdominal compression method
The last method uses the knees to “massage” or compress the abdomen. Lying on your back, pull your knees up so that they squeeze your stomach. Hugging your knees, swing them from side to side, making circular movements so that different sides of the abdomen alternately contract and stretch. “Knee pulling allows you to compress at one point and stretch at the other—a double whammy that encourages you to go to the bathroom,” says Barger.
It’s no coincidence that this is the method that savvy parents use to help their little ones let go of trapped peaches and have a little laugh in the process.
Barger recommends seeking professional help if you’re not pooping at least once every three days or “eliminating completely.”