TRAINING FOR TWO

Move Confidently in Pregnancy!

Order Our BOOK!
NEW COURSE! ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ◆ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ Pelvic Biomechanics ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ◆ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ for Pregnancy and Birth. ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ◆ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ NEW COURSE! ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ◆ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ Pelvic Biomechanics ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ◆ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ for Pregnancy and Birth. ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ◆ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ NEW COURSE! ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ◆ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ Pelvic Biomechanics ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ◆ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ for Pregnancy and Birth. ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎◆ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎
Login
GET STARTED
Written by

Hayley Kava, MPT, Pelvic Floor Physical Therapist

Prolapse and Lifting Weights: Research Review on Why Lifting Weights IMPROVES Prolapse!

  • Postnatal

The pelvic organ Prolapse “world” is rich with fear- and LOW on scientific research.

With 10% of all women having some sort of pelvic organ Prolapse surgery in their lifetime this is not a “niche” issue. It’s a BIG TIME global public health issue! Like, billions of dollars a year big!

I want to review some recent evidence that might shock you if you have been diagnosed with Prolapse. Especially if you’ve been fed the narrative that you shouldn’t lift anything heavy ever again after your diagnosis.

A 2019 study by Lori Forner (An epic Australian pelvic floor physio/researcher) looked at a HUGE survey of close to 4000 women of varying activity levels(1).

They fell into the categories of:

  1. Light Lifters (Max Lift <15kg * 33 lbs)
  2. Moderate Lifters (Max <50 kg *110 lbs)
  3. Heavy Lifters ( Max Lift >50 kg *110 lbs )
  4. Non- Lifters

Did they find that the lifters had more prolapse? Despite what a fear-mongering provider might have told you that was NOT the case at all!

Want to learn more about pelvic organ prolapse?  Join us for our webinar with Hayley Kava, pelvic floor physical therapist!

Before we get into the fun details of weightlifting / prolapse lets look at some other cool things they found!

Prolapse Research Study Review:

Of all the survey participants 14.4% had symptomatic prolapse. The largest category of people with symptoms was in the non-lifter group

Things that WERE associated with POP symptoms:

  • Number of vaginal births
  • Hx of constipation
  • Hx of hemorrhoids
  • Familty Hx of Prolapse
  • Weight Lifting Category

Things that WERE NOT associated with POP symptoms:

  • BMI (Body Mass Index) – basically a height to weight metric
  • Forceps Delivery
  • Cesarean Birth (meaning there wasn’t a higher OR lower risk of prolapse with c-section)
  • Hysterectomy
  • Menopause Status

*Many things that have historically been associated with symptoms of Prolapse

So, what did it say about lifting!?

Physically active women who lift <15kg were more likely to report symptoms of prolapse than women lifting <50 kg

Boom…

While this was simply a survey and there was no physical assessment of the subjects is HUGE!

This takes away the myth that heavy lifting = prolapse symptoms… it doesn’t help us understand everything, but it’s such a great insight!

Explore our postnatal fitness programs that support your postnatal recovery!  Our postnatal fitness courses include an educational course that teaches pressure management techniques to manage prolapse symptoms, as well!

What if you're a runner?

“But Hayley… I’m a runner! Surely lifting weights is harder on my Prolapse than running?!”

Maybe not?

Lori Forner again with the epic research in 2020 comparing pelvic floor symptoms in runners vs Cross Fitters (2).

Guess what she found? Runner who had had vaginal births, had higher POP and AI- Anal Incontinence rates (yes, pooping pants) at 12.7% with prolapse symptoms and 34%  with AI

  • Pardon… 34% of runners pooping their pants… need to circle back to this another time!

People who participated in Cross-Fit Brand workouts had 7.8% with Prolapse symptoms and 27.7% with AI

  • Still high on the pooping pants, this really has my attention! But I digress

While I think a big limitation here is that people who have symptomatic Prolapse are often too scared to get into something like Crossfit and so either self-select into different activities, like running or lower impact workouts …or

NO ACTIVITY AT ALL!

Which I think is something really important to talk about!

Research Review for Post-Menopausal Women

A 2022 Study that came out in July of this year (3) looked at the relationship between bone mineral density in post-menopausal women and the severity of pelvic organ prolapse.

Women with low-grade prolapse had SIGNIFICANTLY HIGHER bone mineral density than those with high-grade prolapse at both the femur neck and the spine when all other differences between the groups were controlled.

In this study they talk about some important other factors in regards to hormone health and ligamentous support, genetic and other potential lifestyle factors what they don’t talk about in this study is how critically important  RESISTANCE EXERCISE is for maintaining bone health as we age and progress into menopause.

A 2015 meta-analysis showed that “combined resistance training” which included resistance training AND high-impact weight-bearing exercise is able to not only maintain but improve the bone mineral density of post-menopausal women at the femoral neck and the spine (4).

While we know correlation does NOT equal causation and we have no direct long-term studies looking at progressive resistance training and Prolapse (yet!) I feel that this more recent research guides the next logical step to encourage more women with pelvic organ prolapse to pursue progressive high-impact resistance exercise.  I truly think it is the future of prolapse recovery!

Lift Weights to Support Healing from Pelvic Organ Prolapse

How do we get to this stage of feeling comfortable returning to progressive or high-impact resistance exercise when we are still symptomatic?

Working with an evidence-informed, movement-positive pelvic floor PT in person or online is a great first step… but if that’s not in the cards for you right now…

I will be going into detail on this during the Prolapse Webinar on Sept 20th 7:30 PM EST – Recording will be available!

Recover Postpartum Online Courses

References:
  1. Forner, L.B., Beckman, E.M. & Smith, M.D. Symptoms of pelvic organ prolapse in women who lift heavy weights for exercise: a cross-sectional survey. Int Urogynecol J31, 1551–1558 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00192-019-04163-w
  2. Forner, L.B., Beckman, E.M. & Smith, M.D. Do women runners report more pelvic floor symptoms than women in CrossFit®? A cross-sectional survey. Int Urogynecol J32, 295–302 (2021).
  3. Ko YR, Lee SR, Kim SH, Chae HD. Pelvic Organ Prolapse Is Associated with Osteoporosis in Korean Women: Analysis of the Health Insurance Review and Assessment Service National Patient Sample. J Clin Med. 2021 Aug 23;10(16):3751. doi: 10.3390/jcm10163751. PMID: 34442044; PMCID: PMC8396992.
  4. Zhao R, Zhao M, Xu Z. The effects of differing resistance training modes on the preservation of bone mineral density in postmenopausal women: a meta-analysis. Osteoporos Int. 2015 May;26(5):1605-18. doi: 10.1007/s00198-015-3034-0. Epub 2015 Jan 21. PMID: 25603795.