Why Strength Isn’t Always the Answer: Rethinking Pelvic Health & Hypermobility Through Nervous System Awareness

ritawhite3
Aug 4
3 min read

For many of our clients navigating pelvic floor dysfunction or hypermobility syndromes like Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome (EDS), the advice they’ve received has been the same, over and over:

“Just do more kegels.”

“Tighten your core.”

“You need to get stronger.”

While well-meaning, this guidance often misses the mark—and in some cases, it can actually make things worse.

While strength training can be an important piece of the puzzle for improving pelvic floor and hypermobility-related symptoms, it isn’t the only piece. If you feel like strength training hasn’t worked for you, know that there is more to it than simply pushing through workouts that don’t make you feel good.

When Strengthening Doesn’t Work (or Backfires)

Here’s a common pattern we see:

Someone with pelvic pain, bladder urgency, instability, or leaking is told their pelvic floor is “weak.” So they’re instructed to do kegels or ab exercises—often without proper assessment or guidance.

But what if the pelvic floor isn’t actually weak?What if it’s overworking—gripping, bracing, or holding tension due to trauma, fear, or instability elsewhere in the body?

In hypermobile individuals, this is especially common. Their tissues may lack the collagen integrity needed for passive support, so the body compensates with tension, often in the wrong places. Strengthening over that pattern reinforces dysfunction, not healing.

The result? More pain. More frustration. Less trust in the body.

The Nervous System: The Foundation of Stability

If we think of your body like a house, your muscles and joints are the structure—but your nervous system is the electrical wiring. If that wiring is short-circuiting, flickering, or overloaded, no amount of patching the walls will help.

In clients with hypermobility, pelvic floor dysfunction, or trauma history, the nervous system often lives in a chronic state of hyperarousal (fight, flight, or freeze). This dysregulation affects:

Proprioception (your sense of body-in-space)
Muscle recruitment and timing
Gut function, bladder control, and breath
Emotional safety and body trust

Until the nervous system feels safe, the body won’t create true stability—no matter how many exercises you do.

A Different Way: Finding Stability Through Softening

Healing begins not with doing, but with listening. At Intrinsic, we help you build safety and stability by reconnecting with your body’s inner signals—gently, gradually, and with compassion.

Our nervous system-informed, trauma-aware approach may include:

Gentle, hands-on pelvic PT that respects tissue sensitivity
Somatic practices to build awareness of where you're gripping or guarding
Breathwork and vagal toning to help down-regulate your nervous system
Education on what’s actually happening in your body (knowledge is power)
Co-regulation with a provider who sees you and supports you, without judgment

This isn’t a “no pain, no gain” model. It’s a slower, softer, deeper path. And it works—especially for those who have felt overlooked or misunderstood by conventional care.

Traditional healthcare often tells us to "tough it out," minimize our symptoms, or push harder. Perhaps we should be asking a different question: “What if healing is about softening, not striving?”

At Intrinsic, we embody this philosophy every day. We don’t just treat symptoms—we create space for your whole self to be seen, supported, and restored.

Final Thoughts

If strengthening hasn’t helped you...If you feel like your body isn’t listening to you...If you’re tired of white-knuckling your way through symptoms...

Know this: You are not broken. Your body is asking for something different.It’s asking to feel safe again. Supported. Heard.

And that’s exactly what we offer.

Ready to begin?

If you’re ready to move beyond surface-level strategies and reconnect with the wisdom of your body, we’d be honored to support you. At Intrinsic PT, we bring all the pieces together so that you can feel lasting improvement as you work with your body.