Questions from You to Me: Cystocele and Pilates

I was recently diagnosed with a cystocele. Do you feel that if I continue to work out with your DVD exercises that I will recover? I’m in good health, not heavy, I work hard at home. I had 3 children with vaginal births. I am 65 and work full time sitting, and walking throughout the day. I love your DVD. Thrilled to find this on the market and have used this for one week now. I do feel better. I do reformer Pilate’s for 30 minutes a week. I’ve asked the trainer to only work on pelvic floor. Is this okay?

So glad you found the DVD, and I have every confidence with your activity level that you will be just fine. That doesn’t mean that after a hard day working in the yard, you won’t feel an increase in symptoms, but it does mean that you will know exactly what to do to recover just fine by the next day.

I want to encourage you to read through my blogs. There are a lot of great topics in there that will help you. I am a yard work lady too, and just this year I still noticed my symptoms increasing with snow shoveling. I gave the tips that I worked with, being sure to breathe out and keep my TA engaged, that helped me…and this is 7 years after I first discovered my prolapse. So take comfort that, in years to come, you will continue to find different things that will help your symptoms.

Your job is sitting, so I encourage you to extend your spine on breaks throughout the day. Lie on your stomach if you can, if not stand up and do some multifidi extensions intermittently throughout your day. Also, think about using a stability ball for a chair that will hold you in better posture by sitting on your “tripod.”

Regarding the pilates – way to go! That is a great workout, but I caution you on doing any exercise that makes you feel pressure bearing DOWN on your pelvic floor. When the work load moves beyond the capacity of our transversus abdominus, we recruit our rectus abdominus (RA), which automatically forces pressure onto our pelvic floor (whereas the TA cinches up our midsection and forces the pressure up under our ribs). The RA is easily recruited on the reformer so be careful.

Finally, work your way through the DVD AND read through my blogs to arm yourself with as much info as possible! Then, look for an advanced workout that we are uploading on our site soon…just as soon as our web designer gets everything set. If you are doing pilates, this advanced workout may be perfect for you. I will also be uploading an intermediate workout soon, as some woman would like something in between the Hab t DVD and the advanced workout.

Glad you found us Donna. Now work on finding your TA and that connection to your pelvic floor and you will be fine!