Unstuck - The Official Constipation Coach Blog

A speech therapist friend of mine reached out a few weeks ago to ask for advice for a family with a five-year-old child who refused to poop on the toilet.  I get this question a lot, and, frankly, it’s part of the reason I started this newsletter and wrote The Constipation Game Plan. As a physical therapist, I can teach kids all about how to sit on the toilet, relax their pelvic floor muscles, and use their belly muscles to bear down to push out a poop. But when I evaluate a kid who is refusing to sit on the...

It happened again last week: We sent our daughter off to a track meet and didn’t double check that she had her water bottle. If we don’t ask at least three times for this child to grab her water bottle, she will not remember it. So she spent an afternoon running in the sun with no breaks to rehydrate.  This is the story of our daughter’s athletic career. She doesn’t remember water bottles, she rarely pauses for drink breaks, and she almost never reports feeling thirsty. Where I know I would be dying of thirst, she just keeps on running,...

I do love a good sun salutation. For myself, and for my kids with bowel and bladder challenges. The deep breaths help relax the nervous system and promote digestion. The stretches help remove tension from the legs and hips and, often, the pelvic floor. The brief moments of plank help strengthen and engage the core.  Best of all, the breathing combined with movement seems to help connect the mind to the body, and to give the “all-good” signal to all involved systems. If you’ve read my book, you know that I recommend yoga as a way for kids to get...

If your child has been to the doctor for constipation even once, you’ve likely heard of the Bristol Stool Form Scale. This is the rabbit turd to runny liquid chart that is in nearly every GI clinic. The Bristol is a handy and easy-to-use tool, but it’s important to know what the Bristol does and does not tell us about our gut.  The Bristol Stool Form Scale (I’m going to call it the Bristol from here on out) was developed in 1997 by Ken Heaton, MD, at the University of Bristol. Doctor Heaton did much of his research on diagnosing...