pilates & prolapse

Hi Mumto

Just saw that nobody has responded to this topic, and thought I would break the deafening silence. Pilates seems to have a bad reputation on these Forums. I have never done it, so I have no experience at all, like you. However, it does make sense to me that exercise for everyday life needs to be done in the position of everyday life, which is vertical, rather than horizontal. If exercises can be done vertically, I would rather do them that way. Personal preference.

You seem to have a pretty good grasp of the principles behind WW. I think you know what it feels like when you have done something your POPs do not like. Your Pilates instructor is obviously interested in Wholewoman, and seems to be aware that there might be perils ahead for you if you go about it the wrong way. How do you feel about giving it a try? You may find that you can do a lot of Pilates exercises, while others might be best left well alone, and work with this trainer for your own benefit, if you feel free to pull back as necessary. Your trainer might be able to help you find alternatives for the exercises that are no-go exercises.

I enjoy bellydancing, but the posture I need to adopt to be technically correct does not agree with my POPs. There are some moves that I have to alter quite radically to make them workable for me, and they probably would not look terribly convincing for an audience, and are certainly not technically correct. I will never be an ace performer, but that was never my intention in the first place. I just enjoy bellydancing, so I will keep doing it to the level that I am able. I would love to be able to publish a video one day called Bellydancing for POPpers, where I can show women what is possible, and that by using your brain to adapt movements, you can do almost anything. Who knows? You might do the same with a Pilates for POPpers video. Now that has a real ring to it! My bellydance teacher has quite a good grasp of my limitations, and can see that I am serious about continuing, so our lessons are mutually beneficial. I have her thinking about female anatomy and how bellydance can be adapted for the person concerned, and I get to have an enthusiastic young teacher (qualified as a personal trainer) who will work within my limitations. Nobody loses! It's great!

Christine, your comments?

Cheers

Louise

I don't do pilates so I don't think I will be much help. I will say that I have done bikram yoga fairly regularly in the past and will get back into it in a few more weeks- there are many positions that Bikram uses that would make my prolapse worse- I don't do them. I modify- same as Louise and bellydancing.
Here is the thing, I am not my prolapse. So I make choices- does doing the laundry make it worse- well then I don't mind leaving that for someone else-
does picking up my 4 year old make it worse- sure- but do you think that is going to stop me? heck no- I pick him up when I want to- I would not deny myself that.
I enjoy Bikram- my whole body feels great after that deep sweat and stretch. My mental state is improved. My heart and lungs are in great shape.

The best advice I can give you is that there is only so much time in a day- I like to use my time exercising as a healing time- so I don't want my exercise to just "not make it any worse" I want to use my exercise time to "make it better" so I choose exercises that feel wonderful for my prolapse.

Go for it- if it makes it worse- get rid of it-
If you can find something that makes it better (perhaps you would find the new wholewoman DVD helpful) all the better.

I want to see that video, Louise!

Mum...Pilates can be anything these days, so it’s rather difficult to comment upon in general. The back and side lying exercises are fine, but don’t expect them to reinforce pelvic organ support. Stop anything that gives you an uncomfortable pressure sensation.

My great Ah-ha! moment came when I realized that the pelvic support equation was made of up three variables: gravity, breath, and bipedal posture. Just remember these variables as you go about exercise and activity.

Christine

Bellydancing for POPpers> Gives a whole(woman) new meaning to body POPing Lousie!

The basic premise behind yoga and pilates and ww posture (as I understand it) would beem to be the feet. Your core strength coming from stretching and strenghtening and correctly positioning your feet. For the last year I've been working to heal an injury and I've had to stop going to class because with the best will in the world, I'm the only one who knows how my body feels. This has been a difficult lesson to learn and I've reinjured myself countless times. I like to think (please God) I'm getting the message now and hopefull can being the same body awareness to my POP management.

I discovered a method I would not have willingly chosen for bringing my attention to my POP this morning. I cooked a curry and then put vaseline on my POP............yes, you guessed it, with chilli hands. So ladies, if your POP is not annyoing you enough today that would be my reccomendation.

By the way, I'll let you know if it turns out to be a miracle cure!

ROFL!!!!!

Tiny, I hope your misadventure is not too serious. You will be able to dine out on that for months, in selected company of course. Oh, wouldn't it be a sick, sad world if we couldn't laugh at ourselves!

You are one hot Mama!

Louise

This is a clarification of what I said earlier in this thread...

As far as the pelvis is concerned, bipedal and quadrupedal postures are the same thing. The pelvis does not rotate forward or back from all-fours to forward bend to standing positions. The movement you feel in your hipbones is the sacrum rocking on its joint while the hipbones move toward each other - sort of like an accordian. The hipbones are always facing all the way forward. There is no such thing as "pelvic tilt". It is an erroneous concept that needs to be abandoned.

"Core stability" is great - but include the buttocks in that concept because our core is at our hips.

Christine