Continuing to exercise

Body: 

I have belonged to a health club for several years and now that I have a prolapsed bladder I need to hear from people what types of exercises at the gym I should be avoiding and which ones have helped. I have days when I feel nothing and days when I'm afraid to look how far my bladder has dropped. Any thoughts would be appreciated.

Hi Nan

Before you can decide what types of exercises you can do safely you really need to have a thorough understanding of what has happened in your body with POP, and how to keep your organs forward, on your pubic bone, rather than on top of your vagina. When you have worked out how to do that with posture you can do almost anything you like, as long as you can do the activity in a variation of WW posture.

You really need Christine's First Aid for Prolapse DVD for a introduction, and her book, Saving the Wholewoman for the in depth reasoning behind WW posture and the anatomical changes that happen with POP. The DVD has a workout on it that doesn't use gym equipment. There is also a ballet workout in the book. Christine's logic is that it is almost pointless doing exercises lying down because gravity is acting in the wrong direction. We were designed to exercise in an upright position because we are bipedal creatures. There are upright equivalents of almost all supine or prone exercises, or else different types of exercises that will exercise the same muscle groups. The only one I can think of that is easiest done with gym equipment is bent knee, then later, straight knee raises, which you do in a roman chair, sometimes called a captain's chair. As Alemama pointed out, you can also use the inside angle of an L-shaped kitchen bench, but it would be harder cos you have nothing to grip onto. It is not about having abs of steel, rather abs of strong rubber, and strong torso muscles to maintain your posture and support the pelvic region on the inside. We do the same knee raise in the ballet workout, using a barre or dining chair or kitchen bench for a little help with balance. You don't *need* gym equipment.

But the leg bone's connected to the hip bone, etc, so it is only a whole body form of exercise that really supports possture and strengthens the body for everyday activity, unless you have some seriously uneven muscle development, which can happen with protecting old injuries and extreme left or right-handedness. Many of the torso muscles are connected to the extremities. We are a *whole* musculo-skeletal system, not just a skeleton which has groups of muscles attached to it. You need to exercise the whole. Oh yeah, the elliptical cross trainer will not harm you if used correctly, and in WW posture. It is pretty good for whole of body, and gym models usually have adjustable inclines and adjustable load, and they can be used forwards and backwards for variation of emphasis. The cheaper home models are not as flexible, but still seem to work well for whole body, ie in the language of personal trainers, upper and lower body and core (whatever they mean by that. There is a lot more to 'core' than just the Rectus abs, Transverse abs, obliques and erector spinae!). The body motion resembles non-impact walking, which is a natural form of exercise, and you can use an elliptical indoors, in any weather, and at any time, day or night, and any teenager, taller child or adult can use them for good whole body training.

You can see some of the content of the DVD on Youtube. Christine's channel is Wholewomaninc, I think. Just search for "wholewoman".

Once you understand the principles of WW techniques you can do anything that does not induce symptoms and try to send your organs south. With proper understanding of the principles you will regain your confidence in being able to judge whether or not an activity will help or harm your POPs.

Louise

ps Your usernam? Do you have 26 grandchildren?