Kegels making things worse?

Body: 

What have been your experiences of kegels making certain conditions worse? I am not talking about WW style kegels, I am referring to the traditional kegels which most of us were taught and probably continue to be taught. I have seen some comments to this affect and would love to learn more. How can old school tighten your pelvic floor exercises exacerbate POP?

Aza, I am surprised that you haven't had any Comments on this topic, though I haven't yet finished reading the backlog of posts since returning from our holiday.

When I first learned Kegels I, and everybody who taught me anything about posture, was heavily into tucking the tummy and tucking the butt. I first learned them at antenatal classes with my first pregnancy. I learned them lying on my back, and I can remember doing the spine flattening exercises in the same series, you know, where you try and make your navel touch your spine? At the postpartum classes,I could do all these exercises really well after my first pregnancy! That meant that when I stood up and wandered back to my hospital room, I was in the worst possible posture for returning my uterus to its flopped forward position, and probably had my bladder and uterus sitting right on the top of my vagina, pressing down. And I had my tummy pulled in so I looked as slim as possible. If I tucked my butt as well I could get my tummy in further still, while everybody else had big saggy bellies. It felt so good! Ohhh, the price I paid for my vanity!

I suspect that posture learned while my body was still unstable, at the same time as Kegels was a contributing factor for my POPs. Of course, I had other factors, like a big episiotomy, and a history of childhood constipation, etc, etc.

Louise