Why Therapists Should Champion the Humble Toilet Stool
A Simple Tool for Significant Client Well-being
Therapists continually seek interventions that enhance both physical and psychological well-being. Among the myriad of tools and techniques at our disposal, the elevated toilet stool—also known clinically as a defecation postural modification device—stands out for its elegant simplicity and profound impact.
This unassuming footrest, when placed at the base of a standard toilet, is ingeniously designed to modify an individual’s posture during defecation, unlocking a surprising array of health benefits.
The true appeal of the toilet stool lies in its accessibility and its role as a “cheap, noninvasive, non-medicinal prevention method and remedy”.
Consider the prevalence of bowel-related issues: estimates suggest that roughly 1 in 6 Americans grapple with chronic constipation, a condition that can significantly detract from quality of life. This statistic alone underscores the urgent need for effective, easily implementable solutions.
How an Elevated Toilet Stool Helps
An elevated toilet stool helps you have easier bowel movements. Essentially, the stool helps your body return to a more natural and efficient way of eliminating waste.
- Natural Squatting: For thousands of years, people squatted to go to the bathroom.
- Modern Toilets Changed This: Today’s toilets make us sit, which changes our body’s natural position.
- The Puborectalis Muscle: A muscle called the puborectalis wraps around your rectum.
- When you sit on a standard toilet, this muscle is partially contracted.
- This creates a “kink” (anorectal angle) that helps you hold in stool.
- But this kink also makes it harder to go when you want to.
- The Stool’s Role:
- When you use the stool, your knees go up, and your hips bend more.
- This position is like squatting.
- It helps the puborectalis muscle relax.
- When the muscle relaxes, the “kink” straightens out.
- This makes the path for stool wider and more direct, like unkinking a hose.
- Benefits:
- Reduces straining.
- Makes bowel movements easier and more complete.
- Can help people with weakness, chronic pain, or fatigue.
Key Clinical Benefits for Your Clients
The simple biomechanical adjustment facilitated by a toilet stool translates into a cascade of significant clinical benefits, enhancing client comfort, promoting better bowel health, and protecting vital pelvic structures.
Easing Constipation and Reducing Straining
One of the most immediate and appreciated benefits is the alleviation of constipation and the associated need for excessive straining.
By optimizing the anorectal angle and creating a more direct pathway for stool, elevated toilet stools enable easier, quicker, and more complete bowel movements. The research is compelling: a study demonstrated that after only one month of consistent toilet stool use, 71% of participants reported faster bowel movements, and a remarkable 90% experienced less straining.
For clients struggling with chronic constipation, this can be life changing.
The reduction in straining not only makes the act of defecation less arduous and painful but also addresses the frustrating sensation of incomplete evacuation, which can lead to repeated toilet visits and ongoing discomfort.
Over time, achieving more complete and effortless evacuations can contribute to improved bowel regularity and rhythm. This, in turn, may lessen a client’s dependence on laxatives, suppositories, or other more invasive interventions often sought for chronic constipation, promoting a more natural and sustainable approach to bowel management.
Protecting and Supporting Pelvic Floor Health
The significant reduction in straining achieved with a toilet stool has profound and lasting implications for pelvic floor health.
Chronic straining during defecation generates excessive intra-abdominal pressure, which is transmitted downwards, placing undue stress on the pelvic floor muscles (PFM) and surrounding connective tissues.
Minimizing this repetitive strain is crucial in both the prevention and management of a host of conditions frequently exacerbated by, or directly caused by, this pressure. These include:
- Hemorrhoids: These swollen veins in the lower rectum and anus are often a direct result of straining.
- Anal Fissures: Small tears in the lining of the anus, also commonly linked to straining and the passage of hard stools.
- General Pelvic Floor Dysfunction and Myofascial Pain: Chronic overuse and strain can lead to PFM weakness, tightness, trigger points, and overall dysfunction, contributing to pelvic pain syndromes.
- Pelvic Organ Prolapse (POP): The descent of pelvic organs (bladder, uterus, rectum) due to weakened supportive structures is significantly influenced by chronic increases in intra-abdominal pressure. A toilet stool can be a valuable component in a strategy to prevent POP or alleviate its symptoms by reducing this downward pressure.
Beyond just reducing strain, the squatting-like posture facilitated by the stool encourages optimal lengthening and relaxation of the pelvic floor muscles during defecation.
This coordinated relaxation is essential for healthy, efficient bowel function. For specific populations, these benefits are even more pronounced.
Postpartum individuals, whose pelvic floors are often healing and vulnerable, can use a toilet stool as a simple, proactive measure to minimize strain and support recovery.
Aiding Overall Digestive Comfort
The benefits extend to a broader sense of digestive comfort and well-being.
Clients frequently report a reduction in common digestive complaints such as bloating and the persistent, uncomfortable feeling of incomplete bowel emptying after using a toilet stool.
By facilitating more thorough elimination, the risk of fecal stasis or buildup in the colon is reduced, which itself has been linked to various digestive issues and general malaise.
It’s also worth noting the intricate connection between gut health and mental health—the “gut-brain axis.” Digestive discomfort, chronic constipation, and associated pain can significantly impact a client’s mood, contribute to anxiety, and diminish overall quality of life.
Therefore, by improving these physical symptoms through a simple, non-pharmacological intervention like a toilet stool, therapists can indirectly foster better psychological well-being. This makes it a relevant consideration even for therapists whose primary focus isn’t physical health, offering another avenue to support clients holistically.
A Small Change, A Big Impact on Quality of Life
The elevated toilet stool, despite its humble appearance, stands as a testament to how a simple, anatomically informed modification can yield significant health benefits.
It offers a powerful, non-pharmacological, and non-invasive means to improve bowel function, reduce the risk and discomfort of strain-related complications, and provide crucial support for overall pelvic health.
For therapists across all disciplines, recommending an elevated toilet stool is a straightforward yet profoundly effective way to empower clients.
It provides them with a tangible tool that can make a noticeable difference in their daily comfort, reduce pain, improve function, and contribute to their long-term health and well-being.
By incorporating this knowledge into your clinical practice, you not only expand your toolkit for promoting holistic wellness but also help to normalize and destigmatize conversations about bowel health—a topic that, while sometimes sensitive, is undeniably fundamental to a person’s overall quality of life.
This small postural adjustment in the bathroom can indeed lead to a significant and positive impact, reinforcing the principle that sometimes the most effective solutions are also the simplest.