The prolapse can be common during pregnancy and postpartum to experience feelings of heaviness in the pelvic floor or perineal area. This feeling of heaviness could range from feeling like something is “right there” or even falling out!
Feelings of heaviness can be related to:
- Pelvic organ prolapse, or a pelvic organ (bladder, uterus, and rectum) pushing into the vaginal wall.
- Pelvic Floor Tension, which tends to be more common or can worsen prolapse symptoms
If you’re experiencing feelings of heaviness, let’s explore some movements to find some relief!
Pelvic Floor Heaviness: Prolapse or Tension (Or Both)
The symptom of pelvic floor heaviness can be related to pelvic organ prolapse or pelvic floor tension (sometimes both).
Typically, it is more common that pelvic floor tension is the culprit to feelings of heaviness as opposed to a pelvic organ falling into the vaginal wall.
Things we can focus on to find relief from the feeling of heaviness or some symptoms of prolapse could include:
- Spinal and Pelvic Mobility
- Gravity Supported Positions
- Glute Strengthening
Want to learn more about pelvic organ prolapse? Check out our webinar with Hayley Kava, pelvic floor physical therapist!
1. Spinal and Pelvic Mobility
There is no perfect posture, but if we get “stuck” in one posture for too long, we could find that our glutes and pelvic floor tend to clench.
Our spines are meant to move, so incorporating spinal mobility can support relief from tension!
Some things to focus on:
- Pelvic tilts front to back (to include the entire spine)
- Thoracic rotation
- Lateral Side Bending
Our thoracic position can influence our pelvic position, so incorporating thoracic mobility can support relief from pelvic floor-related issues too!
During pregnancy and early postpartum, doing mobility work from supported positions can feel best! Try sitting on a stability or birth ball and moving the hips and spine around.
Watch the videos below for some examples.
Want to learn more about thoracic and pelvic mobility? Explore our pelvic floor prep for birth course!
2. Gravity Supported Positions: Hips Elevated
Next, we can incorporate gravity-supported positions to relieve the force of gravity against the pelvic floor.
Try your legs up the wall with hips elevated or feet on the floor with hips elevated.
While in these postures, focus on inhaling down into the pelvic floor to feel a stretch or lengthening, then exhale to either gently contract up and in OR relax.
We can use breathing drills to move our pelvic floor (which may be part of the tension problem).
Think to inhale to move the pelvic floor DOWN and exhales to move the pelvic floor UP. If pelvic floor tension is the issue (which can be associated with prolapse), we may have a hard time moving the pelvic floor DOWN!
Trying to move the pelvic floor in these supportive positions can make it less stressful and easier to feel the pelvic floor move!
Watch the breathing drill below to learn how to incorporate your breathing to release the pelvic floor!
3. Glute Strengthening: Glute Bridges
And finally, we can focus on strengthening! Sometimes we are clenching because some muscle is not firing properly. This is where glute activation movements can come in!
Glute bridges are supportive, but allow us to focus on strengthening the glutes.
You can either put a band around the thighs to emphasize outer glute strengthening more OR place a pilates ball or yoga block between the thighs to emphasize more inner thigh strengthening.
Neither is better than the other, more about what feels best for YOU in your body!
We incorporate glute strengthening in our prenatal and postnatal fitness programs that progress beyond the glute bridge and floor-based movements!
We offer our programs in the Teambuildr app, as a list of exercises with short demo videos, or on-demand, as a video you follow as you workout at the same time!
Find Relief from Prolapse
The feeling of heaviness could be related to pelvic organ prolapse or pelvic floor tension, but fortunately, we can find relief from both!
Focusing on spinal and pelvic mobility, gravity-supported positions, and then glute strengthening are all things that could help us find some relief!
Learn more about prolapse in our webinar with Hayley Kava, pelvic floor physical therapist!