Any runners out there?

Christine (THE Christine) runs, so that should be reassuring! Whole Woman posture ought to make that possible for you, too. Now, I am NOT a runner, but have a postpartum cystocele and am no stranger to high impact exercise (was a professional ballerina). I am 8 months pp, and though I feel waaaaaaay better than at 6 weeks pp, I'll probably wait at least till a year before I try to add jumping in ballet class again. We're all different though, I know . . . and by the way, I feel that walking has been a major helper to healing. Hope it is for you, too.

I can run, but hardly call myself a "runner". Hopefully PArunner will see this and join in. Also, Mare7395 is an older member who biked and ran marathons in the years after discovering both her large cystocele and wholewoman. My own experience tells me that my uterus is only moved more and more forward while running in the posture. The limiting factors for me are my lung power and I guess "will" to go the distance.

Congratulations on the birth of your sweet baby and welcome to Whole Woman!

Christine

My OB and physio said not to run or do anything that jolts my body - but then I also have pelvic instability. I do walk quite fast, but try to avoid a pounding movement, rather rolling my foot from front to back to lessen the impact.

My personal opinion is that there is very little that you can't/shouldn't do with POP it's just how you do it. Look back at my old posts for some background. I am constantly adjusting my workouts and I just keep the POP in mind. It seems that whenever I increase the distance or intensity of my run I can feel a bit of an ache in my lower pelvis and inner thighs. I have just learned to do these increases gradually. I hope to someday do a marathon again, at this point time with work and family is more limiting than the POP but it is a concern in the back of my mind. A half marathon is tentatively on the calender for this fall but due to reasons not related to POP I haven't been able to get in the miles.
So, how often were you running, and how far? How big a part of your life has running been prior to POP? For me it's not as if I am a great runner but running takes care of so many parts of my life (health, stress management, social, competition) that it was not an option to let it go. I have endless thoughts on how I have adjusted my running and weight training. When you are ready just start asking the questions. You are very early pp so my main recommendation at this point is to relax and take good care of yourself. When you are ready just start with some easy walking with attention to practicing the WW posture. When I started walking after baby #1 I realized I was leaking urine so I went for PT which was very helpful. I am careful to now do maintenance kegals, if I forget I leak urine otherwise is is not a problem. If I do too many kegels it aggravates the rectocele so it is an ongoing balancing act but it works.
Good Luck!!!

Hi PARunner

I would endorse your advice. You certainly have some experience.

Louise

So nice to hear that you felt good walking briskly -- and at 10 weeks pp, no less! May I ask that you continue to post your progress periodically throughout this postpartum year -- no matter how good you get, possibly even feeling like you don't even need this site anymore? I just know (and maybe you do too) that having a record of other's experience with this can be so very comforting and encouraging. Too many ladies do the initial freak-out posts and then we never hear from them again (probably doing so well that they no longer feel the need for forum support) Thanks :-)

Please, what is pelvic instability? I am wondering if I have it.

you are seeing someone (a physical therapist maybe?)
they can check your alignment etc and give you good information about pelvic instability.
for a few weeks after the birth of my 4th baby my pubic symphysis was out and my pelvis was very unstable- I could not stand on one foot with out extreme pain and weakness.
My right SI joint has trouble staying in alignment too- but I am working with a body worker, acupuncturist, and chiropractor to sort it out.

I am 7 weeks pp and last week my doctor told me I have a mild cystocele + rectocele (they're just inside the vaginal opening now...I can still see it but they used to bulge on the outside of the opening). Anyways..my doctor told me I could start running again if I wanted to...that it wouldn't make things worse. I've been too scared to run just in case (I was running 4-6 miles 4-5 days/week before I got pregnant). I just started doing stationary biking and the rowing machine + I do Christine's prolapse workout 5 days a week. I am hoping the healing will continue and at some point I'll try running again but I'll give it sometime. I just love the thought that I CAN run again if I want to. It's a big part of my life and one that I am not readily willing to give up on. Keep us posted if you try to run and let us know how it went. (and I'll do the same). For now I am happy that I am not really feeling the bulge when I walk and I am not getting air inside my vagina all the time like I used to. I am confused how I can start lifting plus strenghtening my core when I have to avoid increasing intra abdominal pressure all the time. Anyone has any advice?

My physio surprised me by not being at all against weight training, because it is done slowly and thoughtfully and you can get into a good posture and brace your pelvic muscles before lifting. She says the best position is sitting with the thighs at right angles to the trunk, so crunches are not good, nor a leaning back rowing position. However back extensions are fine. I haven't asked her about plank type exercises, but I'm pretty sure they would be fine too. I have now changed to doing shoulder presses and biceps curls sitting. The other change I have made is to avoid going anywhere near failure. Either I keep the weight well manageable or I keep the reps down. I feel intuitively that I should avoid any sort of straining. Oh, and I keep the sessions shorter than before - not much more than 1 hour.

In a way, I hope doing a session of weight training gives me a good pelvic muscle workout, because I am so focussed on bracing myself there before every rep.

Hi mzimm! I haven't been on here in a while but I had postpartum prolapse and was devastated. My doctor said it was a mild cystocele. My son is now 19 months old and I ran a 10 miler in April and am signed up for a 10 miler in October and a full marathon in November. I was convinced at 3 months pp that I would never run again, couldn't even imagine it. I took off a full 9 months after finding my cystocele. Actually, I did try to run once at 4 months but felt so bad afterward, that I decided not to try again for a while. I was horribly miserably depressed but the time off did wonders for me. I also waited to start running until my cycle returned which I feel like also made a difference in my prolapse. These days, I feel totally normal. I just wanted to share that having postpartum prolapse doesn't mean you won't run again. Good luck!!

Thank you so much for posting what sounds like great success in the recovery department of postpartum prolapse! Best wishes for your marathon, and if you have the time (between training and chasing after an almost 2-year-old, ha!) would you post some details about your healing and how your "mild cystocele" is doing now? It is so very helpful for all us postpartum ladies to read about the experiences of others . . . thanks!