I'm new to this forum and the prolapse issue. I hope someone can help me.

I have heard of there being a relationship between lower back pain and rectocele or uterine prolapse for some women . . . do you know what kind of prolapse you are experiencing? There is a self-exam link on the homepage that is very helpful. I would personally like to see a Dr. again, just to rule out any other source of the pain. Other than that, get started with the standing and sitting postures (info on the homepage under FAQs), and get the book and DVD. (And read as many old posts as you can . . . I learned a lot this way). This work is good for you, no matter what.

I'm not a doctor but I can tell you how I would proceed if I were in your situation. You did the right thing to first rule out some kind of fracture. The prolapse may not have anything to do with the "pop" you heard. I don't know what that was but it MIGHT have been a "crack" of the facet joints of the spine, not a fracture but the way you'd crack your knuckles. If your tissues and joints along the lower spine become a bit locked and stiff, you may not have pain, but things aren't moving as they should. Then you fell and perhaps forced a vertebra to "move" a bit causing stress on the adjoining tissues. I would get an evaluation by a chiropractor (unless you've had back surgery in the past), and also schedule some therapeutic massage.

I suppose it's possible you "knocked something out of whack" in the pelvis, like maybe tilted your uterus one way or the other? I think that would be the zebra rather than the horse though. More likely you've had chronic pelvic prolapse anyway but just never noticed it, and/or the trip stressed you and brought the prolapse lower, and that is only coincidental to your fall.

Another possibility I can think of is a nerve entrapment. Yet another is a torn or more likely just strained tendon or ligament. This type of soft tissue damage can be assessed by a chiropractor who will refer you to a specialist if they think you need more aggressive treatment.

You may have "knocked" the sacroiliac joint out of whack; I think this is much more likely than knocking internal pelvic organs out of whack. Again, the person to see for sacroiliac joint is the chiropractor. Sacroiliac problems can cause INTENSE pain.

Herniated disk is another possibility. Again, the treatment for this would be chiropractic, to get the joints moving, push the fluid in and out so that the healing nutrients can bathe the area.

Ruptured disk is another possibility. Again, you would want to treat this conservatively; do not rush into surgery. With rupture or herniation, the big thing to watch for is spinal compression... as long as you have no numbness, paralysis and dysfunction below the level, give time to heal - if you do develop those problems, go to the ER.

If it is a disk problem, in addition to chiropractic, sometimes a SHORT burst course of prednisone will do wonders to knock out the pain. Ice and NSAIDS otherwise to bring down the inflammation. Some people do cortisone injections - I don't like invasive treatments.

Depending on the nature of the pain and presence or absence of other symptoms (numbness or tingling of legs/feet, problems eliminating, fever, etc.) like I said, I would schedule a full evaluation with a GOOD chiropractor and follow his/her suggested treatment plan.

I'm with you about avoiding surgery. There should be no question of you having surgery for pelvic organ prolapse if you don't even have a bulge that is always there. For the back, never agree to back surgery if they're going to "see what's there" - and I think you're not going to have to face that.

Protecting your back to heal must be done judiciously, because "guarding" of the painful spot can lead to knotted, tense musculature in surrounding areas. Such injuries should be treated "whole-istically" which is why I suggest therapeutic massage NOT "physical therapy". PT might target the injured area but a good therapeutic massage practitioner will treat all surrounding tissues. Or I should say, nothing wrong with PT, it can't hurt and will probably help, but I find you don't get the full benefit unless you ultimately address the whole body.

You should be given the right exercise and stretching plan for your injury - be careful about going it on your own. Too much or too little activity or the wrong kind of activity will hinder your healing.

The most common cause of what you describe is that you've had chronic spinal-tissue stress for a long time which never revealed itself as you never had symptoms - then one little trauma sets it off - like the straw that broke the camel's back.

Not a doctor, as I said, but I've had extensive experience with this sort of thing.

I agree with bad_mirror, the exercises probably would be good for you anyway; Christine's philosophy of keeping the hollow in your back with the natural lower spine curvature is right in line with my favorite natural exercise book for back problems. When you have an acute attack of pain, you want to maintain that curvature to a natural degree NOT excessive! Run all of this by your chiro or therapist - integrate it with their plan. The key to all of this is to find a good practitioner....