Is the posture useful for women who have had surgery?

good question, loiuse
I think that it depends on the extent of surgery. but even if it was 'just' a 'tucking up of the bladder' I doubt a woman would be able to reap the full benefits of this work. I mean, once the natural design has been altered, you'd be paddling upstream with only one paddle.
what are your thoughts?

I always assumed that once ou underwent surgery - They hafta secure whatever they are doing to something - Meaning it is 'tied up' in there... So I always assumed that after surgery WW posture could no longer be of benefit to a woman...

I will await what Christine thinks on this one...

Sue

Look into the eyes - They hold the key!
http://www.bringmadeleinehome.com/img/maddy544x150Banner.jpg

The idea behind the posture would be very helpful-but probably not the posture itself. After surgery there is probably some optimal way to move and breathe- but it would be different from presurgery.

Hi Louise,

This is a good question, but one without definitive answers.

How the female pelvic organ support system responds to surgery certainly varies depending upon the procedure. I had a low abdominal procedure – an MMK-type bladder neck suspension, where the fascia on either side of the bladder is suspended to the front of the body by long loops of permanent suture material. In my own case, the surgeon attached the sutures to the lowest, deepest part of my abdominal wall. I blew one side out the night of surgery through retching from the anesthesia. I have a lump of deep scar tissue on that side, but no pain. On the other side I have suffered deep, pulling pain ever since. It comes and goes from my consciousness and I have learned to live with it. Actually, it’s much better these days than in the first dozen years after the surgery. I haven’t studied it lately, but previously my entire crotch was pulled up and to the right and my pee stream shot to the left. Aren’t you glad to have these lovely details? The vagina is a large, powerful muscle and when it is tethered here and there it pulls the entire pelvis out of whack.

It was a long time before my bladder came down to form much of a cystocele. The cystocele I do have is probably a bit higher than most because it was tethered to the front at its neck. I have hoped and worked at tearing it free from the other side through my own antics and also the Whole Woman work and think I’ve made some progress.

Now, because my front vaginal wall was pulled permanently forward, a tent was created at the top, which allowed my uterus to slide immediately down. I never had any trouble in the back wall because my uterus sat low in the vaginal space like a big plug. However, I began to develop that terrible pressure and dragging sensation in the rear that so many women experience – a direct result of abnormal tension on the nerves coming off the lower spine.

When I began to develop the posture a lot changed for me, if not immediate and drastic change in my prolapse. By consistently lifting my tailbone ALL of the rear pressure vanished. I always knew I would have to work harder at the posture with lesser results than most women, but by the same token I knew that if I could do it, so could they. After a couple of episodes of menstrual flooding around age fifty, my uterus shrank significantly and my prolapse symptoms have been very manageable for years. However, at the moment I’m having the first period I’ve had in a year and am feeling quite heavy in all aspects.

As you know, most surgeons aren’t doing JUST a front or back repair these days. But if a woman had only an anterior and/or posterior colporrhaphy she would need to understand that she is set up for further prolapse problems in the future. If these operations worked there would be no hysterectomy or uterine suspension for prolapse. The little half centimeter post-colporrhaphy vagina is OPEN because it’s been narrowed into a tube instead of flattened walls that fold down upon one another. Embarrassing vaginal air and intraabdominal pressure pushing surrounding organs into the vaginal space are the result of such surgery.

If a woman has had a uterine suspension, the posture may place undue tension on the poly supports to the spine creating more pull on the bladder (cervix is attached to bladder), resulting in a subsequent cystocele and perhaps far-reaching spinal nerve pain and numbness.

In the total hysterectomized woman it is very hard to say, but not hard to understand that there is now a hole in the center of the pelvis into which can and do fall the intestines and bladder. These can come down so low that they cause very difficult bowel and bladder symptoms. I know if it were me I would still practice the posture because of the total body benefit it produces, but I also know I can’t tell the post-hysterectomy woman what to expect. Interestingly, many women without the interior of their pelvis (and the uterus with its broad ligament truly does form the pelvic interior) seem to benefit from Pilates-type exercise. By greatly strengthening all surrounding musculature they seem better able to hold everything in – but to me it seems like a tremendous amount of work to be able to do what we do naturally and effortlessly.

:-) Christine

Hi guys,

I just got back from my first physical therapy appt. It went okay. My kegals muscles are actually in 'okay' shape, but they could definitely use some improving. I'm also doing something called the "Roll for Control" method of strengthening the pelvic area.

I'm not thinking about surgery at this point, but I guess I was thinking about this when I read this thread....

If the bladder falls, doesn't it create a void of where it used to be? And it is now creating a bulge in the vagina that was never there. So how does it hurt to pick that bladder back up and put it back where it was?

I'm still so bummed about this whole thing. I'm preoccupied with it, and what bothers me most is I can't seem to get on with anything else right now, even playing with my children, because I am busy researching and reading and thinking and worrying, and being OBSESSIVE!! I'm thinking about getting on Zoloft today.

Christine, I was telling my PT about your site and she was very excited. She said she has worked hard at getting the local UG's to consider PT for woman instead of surgery. She actually said that the UG I'm seeing is one of the best at referring PT instead of jumping into surgery.

Still, I'm sort of a worrier by nature and get easily depressed and preoccupied with things, so this is really harder for me mentally more than physically right now.

Oh Mom 2 3…I know how hard it is at first! Yet, there are so many of us who will tell you that it gets so much easier. Some of us, like Marie, are leaping and bounding all over the place.

Think twice about antidepressant drugs. I talked to a woman yesterday who has been completely changed mentally by them – developing extreme anxiety and insomnia…her biggest complaint is that she is too tired to learn the posture!

You need your whole self to do this work.

To answer your question, there is no surgery that lifts the bladder or the rectum back into place…that is a complete misrepresentation. There is only reconfiguring (and now reinforcing with mesh) the vaginal wall to push the organs behind it out of the way. There is no bladder lift surgery. Yes, to some degree these organs shift around causing our abdominal organs to prolapse a bit, too. But nothing like when the most important connective supports to the pelvis are removed or altered.

You can do this!

:-) Christine