confused on posture!

OK - I think I only understood the posture by looking at my 3yr old's body...

Basically the 'lifting over pubic bone' means (to me) holding belly 'proud' whilst letting the natural curve of your back return. This means you are not just letting your belly hang like a sack of potatoes off your front - It is 'lifted and strong' not weak and hanging. Broadening the back to me means to hold the upper part of your back - shoulders down and back a little, and think in your head of an upside down triangle - rather than having your back all hunched over and 'hunchbacked'

I am sure If I am doing it wrong someone will put me right :)

Sue

I will get another picture of her (My daughter) if it might help?

Can't remember what happened to the last one lol

Sue

I tend to simply stand tall with my knees softened,my shoulders down and my head tilted down just a little. This I think ensures that the lumbar curve is re- established and the spine is lengthened. It is very hard to tense up the tummy muscles us women have always been told to pull in in this position, they don't contract easily, thus the softened but "proud" tummy. Its funny but I really can't stand any other way now, it just doesn't feel right to me any more!
(Hope I am doing it right too! :))

It's easy for me to get into posture by imagining a thread pulling up the crown of my head. That immediately pulls my spine straight, lowers my chin as it raises my head and the curve is correct. Does that make sense? It's also great to practice against a wall. I did that a lot until the "thread pulling my crown" started working.

I took a couple of pics...
I hope they might help (Though she was more interested in watching morning TV lolol)

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v67/supadeja/Dejas4/devpic02.jpg

and

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v67/supadeja/Dejas4/devpic01.jpg

Sue

She is the light of my life :) I have 2 boys also who also light up my life but they are 17.5 and 16 and are always out lolol

So the little one has given me a new light to focus on :)

Sue

Yep I can say I felt worse on and off for about a week then gradually better and better every day :-)

Sue

Hi Esther,
When you say worse do you mean it felt worse or you think the cystocele itself is worse? I really don't imagine the posture can possibly cause any harm to prolapse in my humble opinion, after all, it is only how we are really meant to carry ourselves. Hope you are feeling a bit better by now!
Hugs, Michelle.
P.S Feel free to e-mail me at home if you like, you can do this by clicking on my name and then contact.........sometimes helps to have this kind of contact for when you are feeling really down!!! xx

Hi Esther!

The best advice I can offer is look at any toddler's posture and that is how you are to stand. Butt out, straighten spine, shoulders down and enjoy this. You are a woman and a tummy is permissable under those circumstances.

sybille

I hope the pics I posed Earlier help - As she doesn't stand still for long lol

Hi Esther,

You’re going through the same difficult period we’ve seen so many others deal with. Discovering a new prolapse is extremely anxiety provoking and I so hope you’ve gained some awareness of the thousands of women who are now learning to live well with their conditions.

The posture cannot hurt you, but rather is the very thing that developed to enable us to withstand internal pressures without blowing our organs out. Invite your doctor to download my articles (for free on the home page) and learn about the evolution of the female spine and just how the pelvic organs are stabilized.

Do as many kegels as you want. The ability to tightly close the pubococcygeus muscles has some value, but it is minimal compared to shifting the organs into their original, self-locking position by maintaining the natural shape of the spine. Here’s yet another description of the posture:

• Understand that the arches of the feet are what support the natural shape of the body. Go barefoot as much as possible and walk with your feet pointing straight ahead. Building up a different set of leg and buttock muscles through turning out the feet is also important, but can only be taught in a class setting (or video, which I am working on as fast as possible.) Humans are meant to walk with the feet straight ahead.

• Distribute your weight evenly between three points on the bottom of your soles: below the big toe, below the little toe, and in the middle of the heel. This will help you not roll your ankles in or out.

• Keep your knees in the same alignment as your ankles and do not bow them backwards.

• Your belly is going to remain relaxed but slightly firm. The rest of the posture accomplishes this naturally. Just don’t pull it in. Have a sense of pulling it UP by the last pair of ribs.

• Keep your shoulders down. The upper back is flat and broad because the shoulders are not pulled back and the shoulder blades not pinched together.

• Elongate your neck by slightly tucking your chin. Do not tuck so much that your voicebox is compressed. Make as much space as you can between your shoulders and your ears. Imagine your highest point being the crown of your head and pull up through this crown.

Esther, once the organs begin to slide down their natural cleavage planes they often continue until they reach a natural stopping point, which for almost all of us is a bulge just outside the vaginal opening. Through the postural work many of us have seen our bladder or uterus pull back in. I believe the natural shape of the female spine allows for this amount of reversal, which for most of us makes living well with prolapse a possibility.

Other than a few new members who are also all recently postpartum and experiencing a worsening of their symptoms, there hasn’t been one woman in almost three years that has written in that her prolapse has not stabilized. Anatomically, if the organs are once again being held over their natural pelvic floor – the pubic bone – there is nowhere for them to prolapse. Yes, there are instances of the entire vagina turning inside-out with the bladder, cervix, and rectum bulging outside the body, but conscious women doing this work do not even fit into that realm of possibility. I would go as far as to say it is anatomically impossible for that to happen.

Eat well, put your feet up as often as you need to, DO NOT strain on the toilet (rock up into a half-squat) and work on your body-awareness by taking long walks in fresh air.

Wishing you well,

Christine

Thank you Christine,
I was SO hoping that you would be here for some encouragement for Esther!!!!
Michelle.

I didn't get to respond to MyMomIsCool, who wrote in asking about bending and being down on all fours, so hopefully he's still here and will pass this along to his mom.

The human spine and pelvis are essentially horizontal. I know that is difficult to assimilate, but it is the truth of the matter. The only reason we are bipedal is because our lumbosacral spine did this marvelous contortion, which is supported by the spinal curves. Bending all the way forward at the waist or getting down on all fours is protective of the pelvic organs.

The only position that is problematic is a slight forward bend like we do when we are vacuuming. This places the spine in that same jack-knife position we are trying to avoid in some yoga and Pilates exercises. When bending forward, move smoothly past this angle into a more stable ninety degrees, while tightly contracting the pelvic diaphragm.

So Esther, pushing the buggy is fine - just do it while maintaining the posture - in other words try not to walk while bent slightly forward at the waist. Hopefully the push bar is at a level that would allow this.