Hypopressives for prolapse?

[ShowgirlEra]

I was diagnosed with a mild prolapse a year ago. I went to a brilliant women's health physio, have done pelvic floor exercises and strength training, lost weight and was symptom-free for about nine months. Then suddenly started leaking and got the horrible shock of a grade 3 bladder prolapse. It's very distressing and I still don't understand why it so suddenly got worse when I was doing everything I could and up until that point, it was working.

Anyway, I'm back in physio and have a pessary fitting scheduled. I have heard hypopressives recommended and am looking at Alice Haufman's programme. She does free YouTube videos but also offers a course, priced at £895. I plan to ask my physio about it, but has anyone done it? I am finding the symptoms so dreadful and I am spending a lot of time lying down to relieve it but I want to get back to exercise and strength training. I am very afraid of the prolapse worsening or getting more prolapses. If hypopressives - or anything else! - is likely to help then I don't care about the cost.

I am hopeful the pessary will give me relief and confidence to exercise again, but I want to do everything I can to give myself the best possible chance of a good outcome. I am only in my early 40s so fear my life being badly restricted by this. Any experiences welcome!

Hi there, i am very sorry to hear about your experience and i understand your distress.
ive had a mild prolapse for years.
i sometimes feel that the more pelvic related exercises i do, the worse it becomes. I dont know if i do them weong or what?
also i am not very consistent with anything so it may also be the reason why.
i have done a nice hypopressive class at my local yoga studio. I also follow the buff muff as recommended by my physio.
i keep meaning to do the exercises but dont as i find them incredibly boring but really i should

Hypopressives seem to have limited support in the scientific literature but they clearly seem to work miracles for some people the pelvic floor exercises haven't. Hard to tell if it's lack of research or lack of effect.

Hypopressives with Alice has a YouTube account with lots of free yoga flows to follows at different levels of difficulty. I think I'd start with them and see if they worked for me and then maybe have a 1:1 session? Not sure, I'm contemplating options post-pregnancy at the moment as I have a prolapse from my previous birth.

My physio checked my pelvic floor exercise technique and that gave me confidence I was doing them right, but I think if you overdo them then the muscles get fatigued which makes it worse - I have been tempted to do them almost constantly, but it's no good as the muscles have to relax as well otherwise they get too tight and stressed and the prolapse gets worse. I do think consistency is the most important element but I feel daunted by the idea of managing this every day for the rest of my life so I totally understand why it's the hard part! I will go look up the buff muff.

Women's health doesn't seem like a massive priority for research! I have tried Alice's YouTube video where she explains the technique and demonstrates it, but I'm totally baffled. I will keep trying to see if I can get the hang of it. It definitely does seem to work for some women.