Scared to exercise with prolapse?
Avoiding activities that you love?
Uncertain what you can vs. can’t do with prolapse?
Prolapse can make you feel like you’re living with limits, avoiding activities that matter to you. You deserve to feel steady and supported. We’ll help address the symptoms and create a plan that restores your confidence and keeps you moving forward.
You can’t rebuild your strength because you’re scared to exercise, worried about making your prolapse worse, and avoiding activities or participation altogether.
You can’t rebuild your strength because you’re scared to exercise, worried about making your prolapse worse, and avoiding activities or participation altogether.
Prolapse may be caused by a variety of factors such as straining, constipation, pregnancy, labor, and/or poor pressure management. Your Doctor of Physical Therapy will do an assessment to determine what are the root causes of the heaviness and pressure you are experiencing. Once your Doctor of Physical Therapy has done this, she will target any areas of poor functioning muscles to retrain them using our signature 3-step method. In the final phase of our method, your Doctor of Physical Therapy will reintroduce any activities or movements you have had to avoid due to prolapse!
Pelvic organ prolapse (POP) is a condition where one or more of the pelvic organs shift downward and may bulge into the vaginal canal or rectum. It’s common, especially after childbirth, because of the extra demands placed on the pelvic floor muscles during pregnancy. Prolapse can become more severe with prolonged labor and pushing during delivery. It can also happen from straining on the toilet or lifting heavy items over time.
It depends! Prolapse happens when the demands on the pelvic floor are greater than what the muscles can handle, or when there’s too much pressure on them. Pelvic floor therapy focuses on strengthening the pelvic floor and core muscles to provide better support for your organs, which can help reduce or even prevent the downward shift.
While results of a prolapse “going back in” vary depending on the grade of your prolapse, a 16-week pelvic floor therapy program will significantly improve your symptoms such as discomfort or pressure AND provide you with the tools to manage and support your body effectively in the future to prevent worsening symptoms in the future.
It depends on you! The safety of specific exercises varies based on how well you use your pelvic floor and core during each movement. A pelvic floor PT can assess what your pelvic floor is doing to support your prolapse during different exercises to help you find the ones that are safe and beneficial for your body. With the right guidance, you’ll learn how to modify if necessary and strengthen safely.
No! Lifting heavy does not increase the risk of prolapse. In fact, research shows that women who lift heavier weights tend to have a lower instance of prolapse compared to those who only lift lighter weights.
Why? Because women who lift heavier are generally stronger overall, which includes having a stronger pelvic floor. The key is learning how to properly use your core and pelvic floor during lifting, which is something pelvic floor PT will help you with! The myth that lifting weights is bad for your prolapse comes from individuals who have prolapse and haven’t learned how to properly use their core and pelvic floor during lifting, which can worsen prolapse.
Read this review from one of our patients with prolapse who has to lift for her job:
That’s entirely up to you! However, keep in mind that prolapse repair surgery isn’t always a permanent fix. Studies show that many people who undergo surgery may still experience symptoms, like leakage and pelvic pressure, within two years.
Why? Because without pelvic PT, you don’t learn how to move and use your pelvic floor muscles properly, which increases the risk of re-injury. Surgery does not fix the root cause of your prolapse. It only addresses the symptoms that resulted from the cause. This means most individuals experience a prolapse again after surgery because they did not make the necessary changes to prevent re-injury.
Prolapse often happens due to poor movement patterns and incorrect use of pelvic floor muscles. With pelvic floor therapy, you can learn how to use your muscles correctly, which may help you avoid surgery altogether.
Read this review to see how we helped a patient cancel her surgery and regain control of her pelvic health!
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