Just a year ago I found out that I have prolapse. It wasn’t easy to share with everyone publicly but I knew that there are many women out there who have prolapse and they feel alone. After learning about my “injury” I’ve decided to learn as much as I could about how to help myself and others. I decided that prolapse won’t stop me from living an active life! I’ve modified some of my exercises and worked my pelvic floor in a functional way, not just with kegels, to make it stronger. Pelvic floor is a functional muscle and needs to be used with other muscles to become stronger. I’ve never stopped doing squats and lunges. And as my pelvic floor was getting stronger I started running (after discussing that with my physio), and I started introducing some more plyometric exercises. I also completed the Spartan obstacle course event (which was so much fun 😉 ). After all that activity I was quite nervous and curious about my next appointment with my women’s health physio. I kept wondering if my prolapse had gotten any worse.
Today, 1 year and 2 weeks after I was diagnosed with stage 2 bladder prolapse and minor bowel prolapse, I’ve found out that my pelvic floor is much thicker. The pelvic floor is the same as your bicep (and any other muscle) – it grows when you add resistance so being thicker is a good thing. Now, when my pelvic floor is at rest, my bladder prolapse is stage 1 and when I’m bearing down (sorry if this is too much info for you) it’s the start of stage 2 and no more bowel prolapse. I could not be happier! I am so grateful that it’s improved so much and that it didn’t get any worse. I’m so lucky that I met amazing women’s health physio, Heba Shaheed (www.thepelvicexpert.com), who has helped me on this journey, taught me a lot and encouraged me to maintain my active lifestyle.
I share my story as I want to show women that you can do it too. You have to be consistent with your exercises and you have to work with the right people. But YOU CAN DO IT! Everybody is different but I hope that my story will inspire you. Your recovery might take you longer but there is a hope and you can lead an active lifestyle with prolapse without making it worse. I’m not the only example of prolapse recovery while being active but most women don’t share such private stories. If you don’t have prolapse, please don’t take your pelvic floor for granted. If something doesn’t feel right or you leak, go and see a specialist. Remember leaking is never normal. And if you are a mum who wants to start exercising again, it’s important to find someone who knows how to train postnatal women so don’t go back to your old exercise program.
If you would like to read my first blog about my life with prolapse please click here.
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