Pelvic floor exercises have been a hot topic for a while now. You’ve likely seen articles, TikTok videos, and Instagram posts touting the benefits of moves like Kegels as the key to better sex and preventing urinary incontinence. But what you’ve probably never seen is someone…stretch their tongue? Until now. Colleen Quigley, who ran for Team USA at the 2016 Rio Olympics, recently posted a video on Instagram where she pulls her tongue in different directions to relax her jaw, thereby releasing tension in her pelvic floor.
“1000% the weirdest muscle release I’ve ever done but I swear it works. Blame @dr.noahmoos for making us look foolish out here 😛,” her caption reads. (Noah Moos, DC, is a doctor of chiropractic who works as a human performance specialist for Olympic medalists like Quigley, long jumper Tara Davis-Woodhall, sprinter Hunter Woodhall, and other members of the Team USA Track & Field roster.)
In the video, Quigley uses her shirt to grab her tongue and pull it straight out, then to the left, then to the right, then up and down, holding her tongue in each position for a few seconds before moving on to the next. She says to try and relax as best you can while doing this.
“What this does is it can help you release muscles in your jaw, and your jaw is related to your pelvis via a fascial sling,” she says in the video.
And it’s true, according to Cate Schaffer, PT, DPT, multisite clinic director and pelvic floor therapist at ATI Physical Therapy.
“Our pelvic floor and our jaw and tongue are connected through fascial developments that start with embryonic development,” she tells Well+Good. “This just means everything we do with our mouth—eating, talking, yawning—can be linked to our pelvic floor. On top of that, the vagus nerve also has connections to both the pelvic organs, tongue, and our larynx of our voice box. So in short, everything is connected.”
“Everything we do with our mouth—eating, talking, yawning—can be linked to our pelvic floor.”—Cate Schaffer, PT, DPT
Grayson Wickham, PT, DPT, founder of stretching app Movement Vault, agrees.
“When it comes to connective tissue such as muscle, tendons, ligaments, everything is connected via fascia. There are lines of fascia that wrap the body in a way that makes some parts of the body more ‘connected’ to others,” he says. “The theory behind stretching your tongue is that releasing tension in the jaw via stretching your tongue can impact your pelvic floor due to being connected by this fascial system.”
In fact, if there’s tension in one area, typically there’s tension in the other, according to Dr. Schaffer.
“If your jaw is tight or you have breathing pattern changes the similarities travel down to the pelvic floor with tension, poor coordination, and possibly pain,” she says.
While this tongue stretch works great for Quigley, that doesn’t mean it’s guaranteed to work for everyone, Dr. Schaffer says.
“In my opinion, most people are going to get more of a benefit from improving their activation in their pelvic floor muscles versus just passively stretching out their tongue and hoping for a release in tightness in their pelvic floor,” Dr. Wickham adds. “Will it hurt to passively stretch your tongue? Most likely not. Is it the most effective way to improve one’s pelvic floor? Again, probably not.”
But if you want to give it a try, Dr. Schaffer recommends starting with one to two minutes of small and gentle tongue pulling in different directions, followed by a slow relaxation. It may also be helpful to stretch or massage your cheek or temporal muscles that connect to the jaw, she says.
“Long-term muscle changes typically take six to eight weeks, but you may notice relaxation in your jaw, neck, or pelvic floor within just a few days of regular practice,” Dr. Shaffer says.