Some research published last November* makes alarming reading if you’ve had children. Its results show that women who have had a normal vaginal delivery:
• are at double the risk of developing a pelvic organ prolapse (that’s where the womb, bladder or bowel bulge into the vagina),
• that women whose babies weigh over 4.5 kilos are at a significantly higher risk, and even more so if you happen to be short (less than 160 cm tall) and have a baby weighing over 4 kilos, and
• that women with a prolapse are three times as likely to develop urinary incontinence.
Do the Pelvic Floor Questionnaire to see if you are at risk.
So ladies, given the weight of evidence showing that doing pelvic floor muscle exercises reduces the risk of urinary incontinence, and can avoid, manage or reduce prolapse symptoms, even more reason to do your pelvic floor muscle exercises.
If you’re not sure if you are doing your pelvic floor muscle exercises correctly, or how strong your pelvic floor muscles are, contact me to arrange a Pelvic Floor MOT. If you want to see how women’s health physiotherapy can help manage prolapse symptoms, please read my blog: Women’s Health Physio can make prolapse symptoms better or even go away.
Sadly, it’s not a laughing matter…
*Prevalence and risk factors for pelvic organ prolapse 20 years after childbirth: a national cohort study in singleton primiparae after vaginal or caesarean delivery
M Gyhagen, M Bullarbo, TF Nielson and I Milson, 2012, BJOG
