Prolapse is the descent of the vaginal walls together with the organs they support — the bladder, the uterus or the rectum. The typical description is a feeling of heaviness, pressure or of something dropping, often worse towards the end of the day.
It is graded by how far the descent goes. In the lower grades, pelvic floor therapy can clearly reduce the symptoms and stop the problem progressing. In the higher grades it supports surgical treatment — before the operation and afterwards.
What matters just as much as the exercises is what happens the rest of the day: how you lift, how you open your bowels, and how you manage pressure inside the abdomen.
Grades of prolapse
- O — no change
- I — descent to above the halfway point of the vagina
- II — descent to the halfway point of the vagina
- III — descent from the halfway point to about 2 cm above the vaginal opening
- IV — prolapse to or beyond the vaginal opening
Therapy
- Detailed history and functional examination
- Individual pelvic floor training
- Correct breathing — removing abdominal straining
- Learning correct posture for opening the bowels
- Re-learning everyday movements and lifting
- Education and prevention in daily life