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Pelvic floor exercises

Posted , 8 users are following.

chris00938
chris00938

I've been trying to puzzle this out.  HOW do pelvic floor exercises help a prolapse?  I can understand it holding the prolapse in more when the muscles are clenched, but when they're relaxed, how does that help the prolapse?  Is it that 'bulked up muscle' makes the entrance smaller by taking up space, so that stops the prolapse falling down so much?  Sorry if this is a stupid question!  Something that puzzled me today too - I saw something in a catalogue that was being sold as a pelvic floor strengthener that you gripped between the thighs - trying to fathom out how the thighs would strengthen the pelvic floor!  Unless it had all slipped a very long way LOL!

1 like, 31 replies

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  • lynn53651
    lynn53651 chris00938

    Posted

    Chris, pelvic floor exercises are conducted to strengthen the pelvic floor that holds up the bladder, uterus, rectal etc. The weaker the pelvic floor gets , the further down your prolapse bladder will fall. So , thats why the ladies are doing pelvic floor exercises, so that the prolapse does not get worse for starters. Hope that helps.

                                                Blessings to you

                                                Lynn

    • chris00938
      chris00938 lynn53651

      Posted

      So Lynn,   once the prolapse is bulging with the hernia, how does it improve that when the muscles are relaxed as they are for such a large part of the time?  I'm sorry if I'm being thick here, but can't quite understand the way it works. 
  • lisahelen
    lisahelen chris00938

    Posted

    Think of it as doing any other muscle exercise regime. Whether to build muscular arms or a tighter stomach. You work to achieve a look, just because the kegals are on the inside and we dont actually see them it doesnt mean they arent doing what we want to achieve- holding up our innards in this instance. Even if you arent flexing the muscles in your arms at any given time it doesnt mean that any hard work done to get them in the first place is a waste, the muscles are there waiting to accept the weight of for example three shopping bags full of groceries with ease when you decide to lift them into the car.

    On a side issue many women find kegals useful with regard to a better orgasm 

    • chris00938
      chris00938 lisahelen

      Posted

      I was saying to my husband earlier (wrongly) that I imagined the kegal exercises strengthened the vaginal walls and even when the muscles were relaxed, because they'd bulked out, they prevented the herniated tissues dropping through, but I've got the wrong end of the stick there, haven't I.  But unless these muscles are stressed with something like lifting, they aren't going to stop a prolapse dropping down, are they?  Ah, but thinking about it - where initially it's a conscious decision to contract those muscles, I am finding more and more that I am contracting them without thinking about it, as I'm walking along, for instance - so is it that you get to the point of contracting automatically, while standing, and that's what supports the prolapses?  Is this it?

      Oh I'm so sorry, but I'm trying the clenching of thighs together but I'm just not feeling it LOL!  I am trying LOL!  If I do the kegal thing while doing that it's getting two totally different areas - I think I'm a lost cause on that one.

    • lynn53651
      lynn53651 chris00938

      Posted

      You are not a lost cause. Just keep doing those pelvic floor exercises and the kegals if they are helping you. Walking is one of the best exercises for prolapse believe it or not. Lots of walking and especially walking uphill. As well, the stationary bike, is very good for prolapse as well.

                                                    Lynn

    • lisahelen
      lisahelen chris00938

      Posted

      Yes two completely different and i know which one i would be doing and its got nothing to do with thighs lol
    • chris00938
      chris00938 lynn53651

      Posted

      Thanks Lynn:-)    Honestly, I have such a lot to thank this group for!  I really hadn't realised the importance of pelvic floor exercises after the hysterectomy and prolapse repair.  The physio who should have seen me before I left hospital was away that day so emailed me to say 'do pelvic floor exercises' but I really thought it was a short term thing and didn't realise it was a life thing.  The post about doing it in three stages was hugely helpful too because that made me realise I wasn't using the muscles nearly as much as I could.    Now tv ad time is pelvic floor exercise time - EVERY ad time!  (so ITV is better than BBC!).  I can feel the difference already, and am noticing that where I was bending over and feeling the prolapse push outwards, now I'm using the pelvic floor muscles to stop that and I was reading that it's a good idea to do that if you want to cough etc. so am doing that too.  I'm hoping to avoid surgery for a long long time now!  Thank you all!  (this sounds like a parting post, but I'm planning on hanging around - we'll perhaps 'hanging around' isn't the right words, but planning on BEING around for a long time yet:-)
    • chris00938
      chris00938 lisahelen

      Posted

      I do agree LIsa.  I've tried this several times.  I suppose the thigh one is good if you need to cross  your legs LOL!
    • chris00938
      chris00938 lynn53651

      Posted

      Meant to have said Lynn - I'm a bit limited because of bad knee arthritis for walking but do use the treadmill daily on a slight incline and  use the exercise bike daily.  So hopefully they'll help too!  There is so much conflicting information on the net - like some sites saying that Kegel's don't help or can even make it worse, and looking just now some saying that the machine can make it worse, so it's very hard to know what's best, but I can certainly feel an improvement from the Kegel's so that's my experience with that.  Has anyone on here used the machine and found it to be good or bad?
    • lynn53651
      lynn53651 chris00938

      Posted

      Keep up the good work Chris and check in once in awhile. Thats what keept this forum up to date and active. Have a good day.

                                                Blessings to you

                                                Lynn

  • lisahelen
    lisahelen chris00938

    Posted

    Also with regard to the catalogue 'exerciser' sit and clench your legs together- you should be able to feel at least some tension higher up if you get my drift lol
  • chris00938
    chris00938

    Posted

    Was anyone told to do pelvic floor exercises before surgery?
  • DorryC
    DorryC chris00938

    Posted

    The explanation I read went something like this:  The fascia and muscles and ligaments are all part of the pelvic flor and work together hold things up.  If one part is stretched or weak then it puts more of the work on the other parts.  I think cystoceles and rectoceles are both tears in your fascia so if you have them you want to make sure your muscles are as healty and strong as possible... your poor fascia certainly can't pick up the slack if the muscles are weak.  It won't undo the tear, but you need the muscles to be healthy and strong and do their job.  

    One caveat is that if your pelvic floor muscles are in spasm then you should not do Kegels as it will just irritate them more.

    I'm not convinced the thigh exercisers work, but I've never tried them.  I found a biofeedback device called kgoal marketed to consumers and I thought it looked promising.  I've seen it up on amazon and they have been out long enough that there are reviews out there. It won't work just after surgery as it has an internal component but I think I might try it at some point.  Just not yet as I was told not to do kegels at this point (in spasm).

    • chris00938
      chris00938 DorryC

      Posted

      Dorry - THANK YOU!  That makes absolute sense to me and I can understand how it all works now:-)))))

       

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