Belly Bliss: How Stomach Massage Can Relieve Constipation

In The Surprising Link Between Your Workout and Your Poops: Could Exercise Be Making You Constipated?, we talked about how exercise and pelvic floor health can mess with your digestion. Now I want to share something that's become part of my nightly routine: abdominal massage for constipation relief.

I know it sounds weird, but hear me out. I do this stomach massage every night before bed, and it's honestly made a massive difference in keeping things regular. It's simple, it's free, and it works for digestive health.

Why Abdominal Massage Works for Constipation Relief

Think of your intestines like a slow-moving river that sometimes needs a little help to keep flowing. Your digestive system relies on muscle contractions called peristalsis to move everything through. When you're stressed, dehydrated, or your pelvic floor is tight, these contractions can slow down or get sluggish, leading to chronic constipation.

Stomach massage is like giving your digestive system a gentle wake-up call. It helps with constipation relief by:

Stimulating bowel movements through those muscle contractions that move waste through your colon. Sometimes your gut just needs a reminder to do its job.

Relaxing tense abdominal muscles in your abdomen and pelvic floor. If you're holding tension there (and most of us are), it can literally block things from moving.

Increasing blood flow to your digestive organs. Better circulation means better function and improved gut motility.

Moving trapped gas that's causing bloating and digestive discomfort. You know that uncomfortable feeling when gas gets stuck? Massage can help release it.

Step-by-Step Stomach Massage Techniques for Constipation

This isn't complicated, but there is a specific abdominal massage technique that works better than just randomly rubbing your belly.

Clockwise circular massage. Lie down somewhere comfortable and use your fingertips or palm to make gentle circles on your abdomen, moving clockwise. You're following the natural path of your colon for optimal constipation relief. Start light and gradually increase pressure as it feels comfortable.

Colon massage technique. Start at your lower right side (where your small intestine connects to your large intestine), work up the right side, across the top under your ribs, then down the left side. This follows the actual shape of your colon and helps move stool in the right direction.

Pressure point massage for digestion. This is something I figured out intuitively before I knew there was science behind it. About halfway between your belly button and the bottom of your ribcage, there's a spot that often feels tender or tight. I apply gentle but firm pressure there for a couple of minutes. Turns out this area is targeted in acupressure for digestive health, so my instincts weren't totally off.

Best Tools for Abdominal Massage

If you want to enhance your constipation relief routine, I've been using a Naboso Neuro Ball. It's a textured massage ball that provides more targeted pressure and sensory input than just using your hands.

The texture stimulates nerve endings in a way that seems to enhance the massage effects for better gut motility. I use it on that upper midline area I mentioned, and also on the left side where the sigmoid colon is—that's often where stool gets stuck.

You can definitely do abdominal massage without any tools, but if you're dealing with chronic constipation, a massage ball might give you better results.

Hydration and Digestive Health

Here's something that should be obvious but isn't: you can massage your stomach all you want, but if you're dehydrated, nothing's going to move smoothly through your digestive system.

Most people don't drink nearly enough water for proper bowel function. Your colon needs adequate hydration to keep stool soft and moving. If you're chronically dehydrated, you're basically asking your digestive system to push dry clay through a tube. Not fun for anyone involved.

The Bottom Line

Abdominal massage isn't a miracle cure for constipation, but it's a simple, natural remedy that can make a real difference, especially if you make it a regular practice. I do it every night for maybe 5-10 minutes while I'm winding down, and it's become as automatic as brushing my teeth.

The best part? It's completely free, you can do it anywhere, and there are basically no downsides. Worst case scenario, you spend a few minutes relaxing before bed. Best case, you solve a problem that's been bothering you for years.

If you're dealing with chronic constipation, abdominal massage probably isn't going to fix everything on its own. But it's a good piece of the digestive health puzzle, especially when combined with adequate hydration, regular movement, and proper bathroom posture (which we'll talk about in the next post).

Coming up next: How your posture on the toilet might be making constipation worse—and what to do about it.

This is part of a series on constipation relief:

Part 1: The Surprising Link Between Your Workout and Your Poops: Could Exercise Be Making You Constipated?

Part 2: Belly Bliss: How Stomach Massage Can Relieve Constipation

Part 3: Poop Like a Pro: How Posture Affects Your Potty Performance

Part 4: Beyond the Bathroom: Why You Need These Supplements for Superior Poops

Part 5: When Pooping Becomes a Problem: Unraveling Dyssynergic Defecation and Cathartic Colon