How do I get my Uterus Position correct

I think this is a very good question.
and I could be wrong about the answer, but this is what I think:
It took a while for your uterus to end up where it is now. over time, your fascial supports have stretched out in places, your muscle/ligamentous supports have also stretched in places and over-tightened in others. it will take a while to get everything working the way it should towards supporting pelvic organs in their right places.
I *think* that in the case where say, your uterus is already in the vagina, the posture initially helps by reshaping fascia, reteaching muscle/ligament to function at more optimal lengths, and redirecting intraabdominal forces (ie breath). everything is connected, so as fascia reshapes and muscle returns to optimal length, and your spine has a new shape so breathing affects everything differently, your pelvic organs will begin to take on a new position.
you might also want to try nauli and firebreathing to more powerfully move your uterus.
in the beginning, you might feel the uterus move and then flop back to where it was, but in time you will hopefully find that it stays in place for longer and longer periods of time.
if you can lift the uterus with nauli, and then maintain its position with posture, thats a good place to be.

hth

Hi Gmom

I would like to add to that. It is important to breathe deeply into your belly. This will encourage your belly to relax and fully stretch your abdominal muscles on inhalation. Then on exhalation they contract again. This is called exercise, and it will strengthen these muscles without any effort other than breathing with a lifted chest. It will also increase your lumbar curve (because of the attachment points of your diaphragm to the spine and your sacrum will then pin your organs in place and prevent the resulting intraabdominal forces of inhalation from blowing your organs down the vagina. It also increases the angle of these forces to the vagina so they are acting directly on the side of the vagina instead of down the vagina. It also tends to relax your shoulders and straighten your thoracic curve. Try breathing deeply into your belly with your shoulders tense. I can hardly breathe in at all! Keeping your shoulders tense will sabotage your WW posture because it stops your breath from doing its body shaping work.

Exhalation doesn't have to be forced, just relax and let it happen when it needs to. According to Buteyko principles, having residual air in your lungs when you take the next breath is essential. You need that residual carbon dioxide in your lungs. It is needed in your bloodsstream to move the oxygen in your bloodstream out of the capilliaries and into into the organs. Without the residual carbon dioxide you can have very well oxygenated blood but the oxygen cannot move efficiently out of the bloodstream into the tissues where it is actually needed.

(((Gbaby)))

Louise

Is anyone on this site doing all the recommendations AND doing strenuos exercise as well with NO problems??? I am trying to find my way with this and have not worked out in over a week for fear of damaging things further. Anyone out there exercising??

peace....sadie

Sadiedog, in response to your question -- I have been walking/hiking about 1.5 hours a day usuallly outside, climbing huge hills (gaining elvevation even) and pushing a 65 pound load (the jogging stroller, 31 lb 18-month old and 17lb 3-month old -- he's a chubby one). Initially I thought that this would make things way worse, but it does not. Mind you, I walk in posture and make sure that I am standing up straight (with the curve in my lower back) and I do most of the pushing-walking with my legs, glutes, hips etc. In fact, I have been finding that after walking, even for very long periods, my bladder feels higher and the bulge is small. The rugae, which is what hangs the lowest is usually still there, but it is not lower or anything like that.

Anyway, I think if you do exercise with good posture and you are aware of the movements that your body is making then it is a benefit to you and your prolapses -- it probably also matters what kind of strenuos exercise. The biggest difference is that I am more conscious of my movements.

My physical therapist shares Christine's sentiments in that inactivity is the worst thing you can do for prolapses.

I still have bad days, but they are usually mental bad days where I get overwhelmed by having to think about physical ailments (I have some thyroid issues going on too), but really in just three months I feel so much better. My prolapse(s) are still there but emotionally it is so much easier. There is really nothing that I am restricting myself from -- I am just more aware.

Hope this helps.

Well you are active for sure and that does help me. I was not aware that the worst thing is inactivity. I did go to the gy this morning and passed on the kickbox class and did the eliptical....hard to keep thinking about posture...It is like patting your head and rubbing your tummy trying to do the exersice and keep the posture and NOT contract your abdomen!!! I find myself doing it a lot!!! Old habits!!! By the time I got done I could feel my cystocele..did soem wt training on my own slowly and paid attention to posture and breathing...agian a bit difficult. But after I left the gym i could feel the cystocle subsiding. Afraid to check my cervix!! It certainly makes me feel better knowing there are active women out there with this condiditon. Thanks Mamato2boys...and big boys too!!!!

peace....sadie

I just wrote a comment, but I don't see it. Anyway I will try to recpature what I said.

Most of my exercise consists of walking, jogging, hiking -- I have not yet made it to the gym, and I am not really a weight lifter. But good for you Sadiedog. What makes my prolapse feel worse, or so I feel it at all, is lifting my boys. I am trying really hard to lift in good posture and to avoid lifting them if possible, but really it is unavoidable.

Inactivity may not be the WORST thing you can do, or not do, for prolapese -- I should have said one of the first. Christine has said in past posts that the real work is done in movement, and my PT said that she thinks the worst thing for prolapse is inactivity.

Hey Mamato2boys,

I was thinking that when I wrote to you that you must really have to watch it picking up our children. When I just bend over my cystocele with feel like it is bulging. I am trying to bend over breathing in so as to expand my bowl out as opposed to the way I used to bend over and suck my tummy in!!! Oh the changes!!! I am constantly adjusting my posture, but it has only been three weeks.

I just watched Christines DVD, and I tried it this am...not too successful on carpeting for balance reasons. Do you do her workout?? I just watched her explanation of each move and she is very graceful. I thought she had really nice legs with good hamstring to gluteus definition. I wonder what she does for her workouts???? I hope you will do well with your prolapse and the same for me. Going to the urogyn at Dartmouth Lebanon wed for a consult and second opinion and he is going to fit me for pessary...I thought I would use it at the gym just for some support for my uterus and then remove it because Christine mentioned in her book that it can stretch out your vagina dn God know I do not need that as well!!!!!!! I am enjoying our talking!! sadiedog.

peace....sadie

Hi Susan

Sorry, I didn't mean to load you up with more than you could cope with. The reality is that POP management is not a silver bullet. I hope you are not feeling too overwhelmed. It can take some time before you see significant and constant progress because it is so multi-factorial. It is a little bit like the 'whole of language' method of learning to read. You just start reading, using the pictures and what you remember of the story from last time, and the mind sort of makes order out of chaos, and eventually you find that you can read. Juggling diet, exercise, breathing, your environment, reorganising your clothes and how you carry your body is really hard, especially when you are a parent of a little child. Just chip away at what you can, and remember what you can, when you can. It will eventually drop into place, and bits of the puzzle will become automatic. Dont' dump on yourself for not getting it right every time, or having a setback. We have all had these, and given the right treatment, we all recover from them adn start to trust our body again.

The other thing is to remember that one woman's OK is another woman's lack of success, so your expectations have a part to play as well.

Louise