A simple step to help relieve constipation

If you're constipated, try grabbing a small footstool before you plunk yourself down on the potty, a new study suggests.

Most Westerners sit down on the proverbial throne the way they would sit on a chair, but a novel leg-lifting device offers an option that seems to encourage good bowel movements, researchers report.

The footstool helps sitters assume a squat-like position while conducting their business. And that position appears to alter an individual's anatomical angle in a positive way.

"A large portion of the world — including Asia, Africa, and [the] Middle East — utilize some form of squatting while having a bowel movement," explained study author Dr. Rohan Modi. In contrast, most people living in the developed countries "have largely transitioned to toilets," he noted.

But for those struggling with chronic constipation, the footstool "had a positive influence on bowel movement duration, straining patterns, and more complete evacuation of bowels," Modi said.

Modi is an internal medicine residency physician at Ohio State University's Wexner Medical Center.

To test the potential impact of the footstool, the study team enlisted 52 men and women, average age 29.

Prior to trying the footstool (provided by a company called Squatty Potty), nearly 30 percent said they regularly struggled to go to the bathroom, while more than 44 percent said they increasingly experienced strain while doing so. Nearly 56 percent said they had noticed that their toilet paper was bloody after a bowel movement attempt.

Roughly 1,000 bowel movements were tracked, of which more than 700 were facilitated by the use of the footstool.

Investigators found that using the device was linked to a notably shorter time spent going to the bathroom, a reduction in bowel movement strain, and an increased sense of bowel emptiness.

What's more, about two-thirds of the participants — particularly those who had previously struggled with "incomplete emptying" — said they planned to continue using the footstool going forward.

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