Physiotherapy helps to strengthen the pelvic floor that supports your organs.
You may consider physiotherapy or your doctor may recommend it if you:
- have a mild prolapse
- have just had a baby
- are waiting to have prolapse surgery
- have health problems which would make prolapse surgery unsafe for you.
Pelvic floor exercises
Pelvic floor muscle exercises can be hard to learn by yourself at home. A women’s health physiotherapist can make sure you exercise the right muscles in the right way for your particular prolapse. Once you’ve learnt how, you can do these exercises at home by yourself. The exercises you are given might look a bit like this:
- Sit comfortably with feet and knees apart. Sit tall and relax your bottom into the chair.
- Tighten around your vagina and anus as if you are trying to stop passing wind or urine, and lift up towards your bellybutton. Feel a lift upwards inside rather than a pushing down feeling. (If you feel yourself holding your breath or tightening your bottom, you are not doing the exercise correctly. Relax and begin again.)
- Hold the pelvic floor muscle tight for as many seconds as you can, up to 10 seconds.
- Release the muscle, then repeat the same exercise up to 10 times, always feeling a lift up inside your pelvis.
- Stop when you feel fatigued, and note the number of repetitions you did. This is your training set.
- Do your training set three times each day for maximum strengthening.
- When this training set becomes easier to do, increase the amount of time you hold each squeeze.
- To increase the speed at which your pelvic floor muscles can contract, also do a set of fast contractions. Lift – release – lift – release. Make sure you fully release each time, so you can lift fully on the next contraction. Do at least 10 repetitions, and up to 30 repetitions if you can.
Not sure where your pelvic floor is, or how to tone it once you’ve found it? Watch Dr Marg Sherburn from the Women’s as she demonstrates how to take care of those pelvic muscles.
Related information
Disclaimer
The Women’s does not accept any liability to any person for the information or advice (or use of such information or advice) which is provided on the Website or incorporated into it by reference. The Women’s provide this information on the understanding that all persons accessing it take responsibility for assessing its relevance and accuracy. Women are encouraged to discuss their health needs with a health practitioner. If you have concerns about your health, you should seek advice from your health care provider or if you require urgent care you should go to the nearest Emergency Dept.