
Last week I saw a new client. Her story (unfortunately) is not unusual. Let’s call her Laura.
Shock was just one of the emotions Laura felt when she felt and saw something push out of her vagina. With help of Dr. Google she diagnosed herself with prolapse and to Laura’s credit, had gone directly to a Women’s Health Physiotherapist.
The physio had not only got her pelvic floor on track, but had educated her in the many other facets that make for good pelvic floor function — toileting habits, asked about pelvic pain and sex, explained the many various options available to her now (surgery, pessaries, etc).
Laura had come to see me because she loved exercise and wanted to return to an active lifestyle. Laura is not a crazy A type, I-must-exercise-REALLY-hard-for-it-to mean-anything sort of person.
But, now Laura understood that her prolapse affected every physical decision she made, and she wanted to get the right advice about what sort of exercise was good for her now.(Watch. How your bladder changes after giving birth. Post continues after video.)
You see this is what I do. I help women navigate exercise safely. My goal is to keep women active. The biggest health risk to women over 35 is not obesity or smoking, it is inactivity. And there is nothing like a prolapse or incontinence to keep women inactive. I try not to judge someone’s exercise choice — their favourite activity may be CrossFit or it may be couch surfing.