✨ The Hidden Cost of Shapewear: What It’s Doing to Your Pelvic Floor
We’ve been told that shapewear is a quick fix — smoothing the belly, lifting the bottom, holding everything “in place.” But at what cost?
As a pelvic floor specialist, I see behind the scenes — what’s happening inside the body when it’s tightly wrapped, compressed, and silenced by elasticized control. Spoiler alert: it’s not doing your pelvic health any favours.
Here’s what you need to know.
💥 Shapewear disrupts your internal pressure system
Your core is a pressure system — a dynamic, fluid, responsive one. It includes your diaphragm (the breathing muscle), abdominal wall, deep core muscles, and pelvic floor. When you inhale, your diaphragm descends, pressure shifts downward, and the pelvic floor responds in kind. When you exhale, everything lifts and recoils.
But when you wrap that system in tight, unyielding fabric?
The diaphragm can’t move fully.
The abdominal wall is locked down.
Pressure has nowhere to go — except down onto the pelvic floor.
This unnatural redirection of pressure is a major contributor to:
Prolapse symptoms
Leaking (even if you “don’t wear it often”)
Pelvic pain
Constipation and bloating
💪 It weakens the very muscles you’re trying to “support”
Your core muscles work best when they’re allowed to move, react, and adapt. Shapewear immobilizes them — giving the illusion of support while actually making them lazy and underactive over time.
Wearing external “core support” regularly:
Dulls sensory input — you feel less of your body.
Removes the need for your deep stabilizing system to activate reflexively.
Prevents natural recoil and tone — leading to core weakness, not strength.
You might think it’s helping posture or “holding things in,” but it’s not building resilience or strength. It’s doing the job your own body was designed to do.
🫁 It limits thoracic mobility and breath function
Let’s not forget the upper body — especially the ribcage and thoracic spine.
Shapewear often restricts rib expansion. That means:
Less oxygen intake
Less diaphragmatic movement
Less stimulation of the vagus nerve, which lives alongside the esophagus and helps regulate your nervous system
Restricted breath = restricted mobility = restricted nervous system regulation.
And that’s a big deal when it comes to healing the pelvic floor.
🌿 What to wear instead?
Go for clothing that moves with your breath and body.
If support is needed (like postnatally), work with someone who can guide you through functional core training and breath retraining first.
Your pelvic floor doesn’t need to be gripped, held, or hidden. It needs to breathe, respond, and flow.
🔥 Let’s shift the narrative
You don’t need to be "held in" to be strong.
You don’t need to shrink, tighten, or smooth to feel worthy.
Let’s trade external compression for internal connection. Let’s build strength from the inside out — through breath, posture, and a system that supports you because it’s alive, responsive, and yours.
Your core is not a corset.
Your breath is not a liability.
Your body is not the problem
