Internal work

Body: 

I am hoping to hear from people who have had any sort of internal work and what their experiences have been. Obviously there is a lot of exploring and 'checkoramas' with POP and splinting with rectoceles, but I am looking for people's experiences of any sort of work on the muscles, tendons, ligaments, bony pelvis, etc. Maybe this is something you have discovered for yourself or something that an osteo or physio might have done with you.

Hi Aza,

I think the "internal work" PTs do is a problem. Not only because it is invasive, but because it's not very useful. Oh yes, we can be made aware that this ligament is tight and that muscle is in "spasm", but what is the ultimate solution?? It is exercising the entire pelvic interior by natural, bipedal movement. In this way, muscles and ligaments are "wound up" and everything is positioned to take advantage of intraabdominal pressure - pinning our organs into place rather than blowing them out of the body. You cannot create the mechanics of pelvic organ support on your back, and any sort of internal "work" is no better than belly massage.

Actually, Sims had a far better idea! If you're going to feel around vaginally, place the woman on her hands and knees so her organs are falling into their normal positions. Sim's shove-o-rama might even be helpful. Think of it this way: As Louise knows, horses and sheep prolapse, too. Would a vet place a horse on its back to try to replace a prolapsed organ? Heavens no - the dynamics are exactly the same in humans.

Women with uterine prolapse can do this best by themselves. I've recently been manually pushing my cervix as far forward as possible while doing nauli. There is repositioning that happens with this exercise that can't be obtained any other way that I know of. When the uterus is severely prolapsed over time, I believe the small bowel takes its place at the abdominal wall. This is what makes the condition so intractable. But creating an abdominal vacuum moves the bowel and if I can get it to move enough while doing my own shove-o-rama, perhaps someday my uterus will be forced into place.

When women have a correct view of their anatomical landscape, a whole new world of possibilities arises.

Christine

Hi there,

I had a third degree tear during a forceps delivery. The suturing of that tear failed, leaving me with a torn anal sphincter muscle and what the doctors call a "defective" perineum. Soon after the birth I developed a cystocele and rectocele. From a few months after the birth I started doing weekly (sometimes twice-weekly) sessions with an osteopath doing internal work. She was really sincere and sensitive, and passionate about helping women through issues like this-- could hardly find a more sensitive and compassionate person-- and I found the most useful part of it (the only long-term useful part) was the mainly emotional release that took place from having someone who is not a lover (and so has more emotional neutrality) palpate the area with subtle, caring awareness and at least some knowledge of the structures there.

Interestingly, this osteopath used to comment about how my "bum would disappear" when I stand up, because I was tilting my pelvis forward (according to the instruction I'd been getting in yoga and dance classes for many years!) but she never associated this with the prolapse, only with some back pain I'd been having. But that observation did help me, as I became aware of a better way of using my spine as a result.

The physical aspect of it I found was not helpful. My prolapse would feel a bit better until a few hours of resuming regular daily life after the treatments. I kept thinking that over time a permanent effect would be achieved, but eventually realized that no one can actually put things right there but me, living with moment-to-moment awareness of my breath and posture.

I hope that helps, and am happy to answer specific questions about the work I did with the osteo, as I sure did a lot of hopeful sessions!

Barbara
www.ayurlab.com

Hi Barbara

I have been on this site the last couple of days, erikdalton.com. He talks about emotional responses to working in the area of the coccyx (which is what I was interested in). He mentioned the woman who invented Rolfing, which has a big emotional release component. Maybe this was the reason you experienced it. It's all very strange, but ...

Louise