The best toilet stools for hemorrhoids

A toilet stool is a footrest that lifts your knees above your hips while you sit. That posture showed less straining in two small studies, and straining is one habit the NIDDK tells people with hemorrhoids to stop ⁵. For a standard toilet, start with the 7-inch Squatty Potty Original. If the seat is the taller comfort height, you want a 9-inch setting.

A stool does not soften stool, and no trial has tested one as a hemorrhoid treatment. Pair it with fiber and a short visit. Our toilet habits guide puts the footstool next to the other habits that matter: no straining, no long sits, and gentle cleaning. This page covers which of the five stools fits your bathroom, what the posture research can and cannot claim, and how to use one without cracking it or slipping.

Our picks compared

The differences that matter are height, whether the stool folds, and whether it tucks around the base of the toilet.

Reviews of our picks

Each card below says who that stool suits. The buying advice after the research section is about toilet height, travel, and shared bathrooms.

How we chose these toilet stools

We looked for stools with strong overall ratings from a large number of buyers, then read recent reviews for the complaints that repeat. Height came up constantly. So did cracked plastic when someone stood on the middle, feet sliding off, wood splitting, and folding stools that fight you when you open them. Those comments decided the awards more than the marketing.

The Porta-Squatty and the MR.SIGA have fewer reviews than the original Squatty Potty. We kept them because the recent comments are consistent: the folding one earns its place on trips, and the nesting pair earns its place when you want a simple stool and a lower height. The research on posture, covered next, is why a stool is on the list at all. It is not strong enough to rank one brand as a medical treatment.

What the research says

The cleanest comparison of positions is a 2003 study of straining in three positions: 28 healthy volunteers, ages 17 to 66, with normal bowel habits ¹. Each person recorded six bowel movements sitting on a standard toilet (41 to 42 centimeters high), six on a lower seat (31 to 32 centimeters), and six while squatting. Time to a feeling of emptying, and the effort people reported, dropped sharply in the squat compared with both sitting positions. The author concluded that sitting takes more expulsive effort than squatting.

A footstool flexes the hips more than a flat sit, and it stops short of a full squat on the floor. A 2019 footstool study at Ohio State followed 52 healthy adults, average age 29, for two weeks without a defecation posture device and then two weeks with one ². They logged 1,119 bowel movements. With the device, people were more likely to feel empty (odds ratio 3.64) and less likely to strain (odds ratio 0.23). Trips were about 1.25 times longer without the device. At the start, 44% already reported straining and 56% had noticed blood on the paper in the past year, so this was not a room full of people with perfect bowels. The order was fixed, first without the stool and then with it, so some of the change could be from paying more attention. It is still the most direct evidence we have for the product type.

A 2010 lab study of six healthy volunteers measured the anorectal angle, the bend between the rectum and the anal canal ¹⁰. In a squat, that angle opened to 126 degrees, compared with 100 degrees while sitting. Resting belly pressure was also lower in the squat. The extra push people used to defecate was smaller too, but that part did not reach statistical significance. With only six people, that angle measurement is a hint.

Leaning forward changes the angle as well. In a 2016 study of the Thinker position, 22 patients who could not empty barium paste while sitting were filmed again bent forward with the hips flexed ³. The anorectal angle widened from 113 degrees to 134 degrees, and 11 of the 22 emptied completely. A toilet stool plus a slight lean is in that family of postures. It is not the same as hugging your knees.

One study goes the other way. Researchers in Hong Kong asked 12 healthy adults to expel a device called Fecobionics while lying on the side, sitting, and squatting ¹¹. Expulsion took about 109 seconds lying down, 15 seconds sitting, and 16 seconds squatting. Sitting and squatting were not meaningfully different. The sample is tiny, the “stool” was a 50-milliliter bag, and nobody had hemorrhoids. In that lab, a normal sit was as quick as a squat.

Straining still matters for hemorrhoids even if the stool data are thin. A colonoscopy study of 2,813 adults found constipation more often in people with hemorrhoids (odds ratio 1.43) ⁶. An older look at national surveys found that hemorrhoids and constipation did not rise and fall together across age and income ⁹. Fiber, which softens stool, has the stronger treatment evidence: a review of seven trials found about half as much ongoing bleeding with fiber ⁷. A stool is an add-on. Our fiber supplement picks cover that half of the plan.

Long sits matter too. A 2025 study of 125 adults having a screening colonoscopy found hemorrhoids in 43% ⁴. People who used a smartphone on the toilet were more likely to sit more than five minutes (37.3% versus 7.1%). After adjusting for age, sex, body size, exercise, straining, and fiber, smartphone use on the toilet was tied to a 46% higher risk of hemorrhoids. The write-up of that study is the short version. A footstool does not cancel a 20-minute scroll.

How to choose

Measure the habit first, then the bathroom.

The original 7-inch stool is the default for a standard toilet, the kind that sits lower, often around 14 to 15.5 inches from the floor to the seat. The product page for the original says the 7-inch height is the place to start, and that comfort-height toilets, about 16 to 18 inches, pair better with 9 inches. If your knees are still below your hips when your feet are up, you need the taller setting. The bamboo flip and the adjustable 2.0 both give you 7 and 9 inches. Pick the bamboo one if you want it to look like a small piece of furniture and you can live with wood that sometimes splits. Pick the adjustable plastic one if several people share the toilet and you want a topper you can take off.

The Porta-Squatty is the travel pick and only the travel pick for most homes. It is 7 inches, it folds, and it is less steady. Use it in a hotel, an RV, or a bathroom with no floor space. At home, a solid stool wins.

The MR.SIGA set suits shorter adults who want a lower step, and anyone buying on a budget who likes getting two stools. Set it in place before you sit. If your toilet has a rounded base, this one may not tuck in, and it can jut into the room. That is a trip hazard in a small bathroom.

Skip a stool if you cannot bend your hips or knees, or if you feel wobbly sitting down and standing up. The studies used healthy volunteers and patients who could already get into these positions ^1,3,11. A fall is a worse outcome than feet flat on the floor. People who need pressure off a sore spot at a desk want a seat cushion. That is a different product list.

How to use them safely

Use the stool on every bowel movement for two weeks, which is how long the footstool study ran ², and keep your stools soft. A posture change on a hard, dry stool still hurts.

1. Set the stool against the base of the toilet before you sit. Do not stand on it to reach a shelf. Buyers of the original report cracks when weight goes through the middle, and the listing’s 350-pound figure does not change that.
2. Sit with both feet flat on the stool and your knees above your hips. If your feet dangle or slide, the height is wrong, or you need the model with a grippier top. The adjustable stool is the one buyers mention sliding on.
3. Lean forward a little, forearms on your thighs. You do not have to curl into a full squat. The Thinker study used a deeper bend in people who had already failed a normal sit ³. A modest lean is enough to try at home.
4. Breathe and give it a few minutes. If nothing moves, get up. NIDDK says not to sit on the toilet for long periods and not to strain ⁵. Leave the phone outside. Our cause guide explains why straining and long sits keep showing up in the risk research.
5. Clean gently when you are done, pat the skin, and wash the stool with ordinary bathroom cleaner when it needs it. Plastic wipes down. Bamboo should not sit in a puddle. The folding stool is the one that can pinch fingers, so open it slowly and use the bag as a guard if the hinge is stiff.
6. If the latch on a folding stool will not hold, stop using it. A stool that collapses under your feet is worse than no stool.

Children can use a low stool if their feet otherwise dangle, which is a common reason families like the adjustable model. Do not hand a folding travel stool to a small child. The hinge is the part buyers call stiff and noisy.

If hip or knee pain shows up only when your feet are up, go back to flat feet and mention it at your next visit. Forcing the angle is not the point.

GuideToilet habits that help hemorrhoids

Toilet habits for hemorrhoids: less straining, shorter sits, a footstool, and gentle cleaning, based on the posture studies.

When to see a doctor instead

A stool is a habit tool. Heavy bleeding, a purple lump, or pain that stops you walking needs a clinician. The treatment guide shows where home care stops and office procedures start. Prevention is the longer list of daily habits once a flare has settled.

The USPSTF recommends colon cancer screening from age 45 for adults at average risk ⁸. Rectal bleeding in that age range needs an actual evaluation. NIDDK says to seek care right away for severe anal pain and rectal bleeding, particularly with belly pain, diarrhea, or fever ⁵.