wholewoman kegel

Hi Pollyanna

I would say that your blowup rubber wedge might be quite helpful because it will help you not to slouch. I have a chair at work that slopes forwards. I also have an office stool at home that I have modified to be lower at the front than at the back. Yes, plant your feet firmly at least shoulder width apart (kind of in ballet second position, yes, you do have a turnout) and with a right angle at the knee. With your butt firmly planted on your chair and two feet planted firmly you will have a very stable, triangular base for sitting.

I am wondering why you cannot sit cross-legged? Can you please explain further?

Louise

Hi Pollyanna

Well, I figure that you can only do what you can do, eh? Do you still have all your x-rays? Were any of them taken in standing position? As S1 and L5 are partly fused it would be interesting to know what that has done to your lumbar curve, and the degree to which it reduces the flexibility in your spine overall. It is only one joint, after all, a pretty big, important one, but it is still only one.

It is not as if sitting cross-legged is going to mean that you cannot get benefit from Wholewoman posture.

My husband is very inflexible too, I cannot believe how inflexible! so I do understand what you are saying.

Even if you were not able to touch your toes as a child, it does not mean that you cannot improve the flexibility of your lower body now. Much of the flexibility that is needed for Wholewoman posture comes from loosening the muscles in the legs. The effect of this is to allow the pelvis to rotate, rather than spinal flexion which we normally associate with being able to touch your toes. The flexibility in your upper body is equally important, the trunk, and chest/shoulders.

The most important factor in stretching muscles is, of course, exercise, which you do mention in your initial post. If you do not move the muscles in your body much they will just stay the length they are. I would be doing exercise that will extend *all* the muscles in your body.

The only thing muscles can do is contract, ie get shorter. Most muscles in the body have opposite or antagonist muscles. So if you are contracting one muscle you are using its energy to stretch its antagonist muscle/s. The more you contract muscles, the more you are stretching the other half of your body. The stretching of taut muscles is wonderful exercise for their partners on the other side of the body. The more you do it, the more movement you will get, and the more flexible your joints you will become because the range of all your movements will become greater. This is all to a point. As you have never been very flexible that point may be short of where you want to get to, but it will definitely be better than it has been.

Also, getting your pelvic organs forward so they are resting on bone is the only non-surgical way of keeping them from descending further. So you really have nothing to lose by upping your exercise.

Dance is an ideal way to do it because you can change the style when you get bored, and it definitely exercises the whole body which is what you want. You can also change the 'temperature' of dance, so you can start off with small movements and increase them as your body becomes accustomed to more movement. You can also do it by yourself or in company, spontaneously or by going to regular classes, or a combination of all these.

Just to add a note from my own experience, I had very sore shoulders and neck about twelve months ago, and it had been getting worse for several years. There seemed to be nothing that would alleviate the pain and discomfort. This year I have been learning a veil dance at our bellydance classes, which has involved a lot of big arm movements in all directions, and quite forceful movements to boot. The constant pain and discomfort have eased considerably as the year has gone by.

Who would have thought that throwing around 3 metres of chiffon for half an hour, twice a week, would strengthen my shoulders so much? I can only put it down to that. There have not been any other changes.

Pump chiffon, not iron!

Pollyanna, another factor could be your brain. Your post expressed the sentiment that your body is telling you what to do or not to do, eg bowel problems prevented you from starting your exercise program. You think your body is giving valid reasons for not exercising. My guess is that there is something in your mind that is stopping you from exercising, and extending yourself physically.

Congenital fusing may be common, but you don't *know* that the fusing of this joint is congenital if it was only discovered ten years ago. I have read that fusing of vertebrae can happen as we get older, possibly because we are not using the joint enough, eg in elderly people. I am not a medical expert, so don't take this as gospel, but you could do some research yourself on this, and find out if it is possible that it has happened since you were born, and if this is the case, it may worsen in time. I can understand that you would be scared of starting exercise because you really don't know what horrible things might happen if you overdo it. The other side of the coin is that wonderful things might happen. You are going to be professionally supervised, so just give it a go.

Louise

Hi Pollyanna,

Oh my, it sounds like you may be part of that 10% or so of us who have this congenital condition. It has become one of my pet interests as of late, but there is frustratingly little info about it. Seems surgery took off in the 1930s coincidentally with the paradigm shift from "transitional vertebrae" being the cause of a significant percentage of back pain, to "slipped discs" and over half a century of spinal fusions.

My burning question is, barring violent accident, can the conditions of transitional vertebrae (sacralization of L5 and lumbarization of S1) be acquired? I think this is what has to happen to the post-hysterctomy spine to cause the skeletal changes apparent to macroscopic view.

Anyway...if you are sitting up straight and contracting your pelvic diaphragm, the major compression is going to be experienced around your urethra. You will feel some pulling forward of the rectum and back vaginal wall as well. I have tried to give a clear picture of how your pelvis and pelvic organs are positioned, so will ask this question: what are you trying to gain in terms of rectocele reversal by doing kegels?

It has been my experience, and that of many others here, that firebreathing/nauli combined with dietary changes and careful observance of posture (no straining!) is the path of prolapse stabilization and reversal. I don't think you are going to make your condition worse by doing a few kegels, but we have heard reports from women that rectoceles are particularly vulnerable to being made worse by lots of kegels. From my viewpoint, it's simply the wrong concept. Your pelvic diaphragm is contracting countless times throughout the day while in WW posture, while at the same time drawn into its functional alignment.

Kegels only make sense within the context of a pelvic "floor" that you are trying to strengthen and shore up. There is no such thing. Let the vagina naturally fold down upon itself as you go about your life. Over time the anterior curve in the front rectal wall will recede and your symptoms will improve.

:) Christine

Hi Pollyanna

Most women who have a cele will have other fascial damage in the area. Celes are mostly associated with pregnancy, and general stretching of the pelvic fascia after pregnancy is very normal. Who is really surprised about that? Everything in your pelvic region is tethered more loosely following a pregnancy. Some of it will get tighter again in the first two years postpartum, but some will stay stretched.

When a woman has all her pelvic organs intact and unaltered they all compete for space in the vagina. Thus, none of them can escape! We call this nature's pessary. It is one of the reasons why a woman who has had hysterectomy is more prone to prolapse afterwards. The uterus and its connections are no longer supporting any other structures or organs.

The bladder has a pessary role too. Allow it to fill and it will be larger for much of the time and will ride higher. If you are peeing small volumes frequently it never gets big, so it is always small, so it will come lower into the vagina. This is one of the reasons why it is good to learn to empty your bladder only when it is full.

So it is not so much that you will *develop* other celes if you get your rectocele under control. The other celes are probably already there. They just haven't shown themselves yet. If one appears, don't be alarmed. All that means is that you are getting your rectum repositioned, which is actually good. If you can reposition your rectum, the uterus and bladder will reposition with time as well, as long as you can get your body into WW posture. Be patient. It will be hard work but it is your best option for conserving your body in thre medium and longer term.

Louise

that's all you need to increase flexibility in your entire body!
So you just want to work on your hips and hamstrings for now- maybe quads a bit.
I say 10 min a day would do it.

Start like this- take a warm bath (or apply heat to the back of your legs for a few min) then lie down on your back- roll up a towel- put it around one foot and grasp it with both hands- now lift the leg until you feel a strain- hold it for about 20 sec and rest- to the other leg-
then do both legs
then rest
then do it again
maybe 3 times or so
you won't believe the gain you can get in just 1 week!!!

next week add a hip stretch.