If you're struggling to see improvements with normal pelvic floor exercise (PFEs) AKA Kegels - hypopressives can help. They are a safe and effective alternative to surgery, and with one-to-one training with an experienced coach over 3 months, the results are frequently life changing.
So, how do hypopressives create this lift?
1) Hypopressives help release fascia and areas of tightness in your pelvic floor - to improve prolapse position.
Hypopressives can help correct the position of the prolapse, and even help reduce the grade of the prolapse.
Many women describe a feeing of release, lightness and lifting after a hypopressives session.
As the tension is released, it's not uncommon to experience a reduction in the prolapse grade - like these women who all completed the Create Lift Programme:
"My GP assessed me as having a grade 2 rectocele, today I've improve to a grade 1. My physio said keep doing whatever you're doing as it's working!"
- Susan
"I saw my physio today. I have gone from a 2 rectocele to a 1 and she sees great progress. In fact she says I don't have to go back unless I have any issues"
- Phoebe
"No signs of prolapse [cystocele] now - I've been checked by my physio!"
- Sarah
"I returned to my physio after 6 weeks of hypopressives. She was amazed and said the prolapse was 'barely there"
- Kayleigh
"I saw my physio last week and she said no rectocele anymore - whoop!"
- Anna
2) Hypopressives creates a physical lift of the pelvic organs.
When performed correctly, the bladder physically moves up and into a better position each time you do the a hypopressives vacuum breath. There is a ligament like structure called the median umbilical ligament that attaches from the apex of the bladder to the back of the abdominal wall behind your belly button. The bladder physically moves up which also encourages the uterus into a better position.
You can see this physical lift (ultrasound picture below) in this fascinating research by Latorre et al (2011). The top image shows the pelvic organs at rest. The image below shows the lift with the vacuum breath. The researchers found the angle between the uterus and the vagina increased from 31-45 degrees, as the pelvic organs lifted.
We know that prolapse has a significant impact on women's emotional health (Ghetti et al 2015) - and with hypopressives - getting the physical feelings of lift during the vacuum are hugely beneficial psychologically as you work towards improving your symptoms.
Women frequently report a reduction of feelings of bulging into their vagina, and as the prolapse moves up, the discomfort reduces and the grade can reduce too.
3) Hypopressives increases the natural synergistic lift through your pelvic floor.
The synergistic connection between the pelvic floor and the diaphragm is really important - if this is working well, every time you breathe in your pelvic floor relaxes, and every time you breath out, your pelvic floor gently lifts and contracts naturally as the diaphragm moves back up.
This is really important as hypopressives helps to support these connections, enabling the pelvic floor to work better in the background without you thinking about it - and research show that hypopressives importantly increases the resting tone of the pelvic floor (Navarro-Brazalez et al, 2020).
Hypopressives are also really enjoyable - meaning that you can so something you enjoy which will improve your prolapse and pelvic health. Many women we work with have started the programme feeling disheartened by the minimal progress made with PFEs - so if this sounds like you, don't give up hope!
The best thing is, you don't have to wait ages to start seeing results - most women we work with start seeing improvements within 4 weeks and continue to build during the programme.
Rebecca: "The benefits I've experienced are amazing".
Gillian: "At 32 I felt like I had been given a life sentence being diagnosed with a prolapse... In the 3 short months I have been practising hypopressives the improvements I have seen are astounding".
Daphne: "I'm a post menopausal woman and after 8 weeks of lessons I have had significant improvements in all my symptoms".
On average, women who are doing Create Lift are experiencing a 74% improvement in their prolapse symptoms overall which is HUGE.
Putting these statistics into context is really important - we know that the international research into PFEs for prolapse only shows 'a small, but probably important reduction in prolapse symptoms' (Hagen et al 2017). Despite PFEs being the gold standard for prolapse treatment - PFEs aren't actually making a substantial difference for women living with prolapse.
If you're interested in reading more, there's lots more information about hypopressives here 'What are hypopressives?' and here 'Pelvic floor - HELP!'.
Don't let pelvic floor issues hold you back, or take over your life. Improvement IS possible.
To find out more, simple book a free, confidential and no-obligation call with myself or one of the team.
We'd love to hear from you,
Alice x
Reference:
Ghetti, C., Skoczylas, L. C., Oliphant, S. S., Nikolajski, C., & Lowder, J. L. (2015). The Emotional Burden of Pelvic Organ Prolapse in Women Seeking Treatment: A Qualitative Study. Female pelvic medicine & reconstructive surgery, 21(6), 332–338.
Hagen S, Glazener C, McClurg D, Macarthur C, Elders A, Herbison P, Wilson D, Toozs-Hobson P, Hemming C, Hay-Smith J, Collins M, Dickson S, Logan J. Pelvic floor muscle training for secondary prevention of pelvic organ prolapse (PREVPROL): a multicentre randomised controlled trial. Lancet. 2017 Jan 28;389(10067):393-402.
Latorre, G., Seleme, M., Resende, A., Stupp, L., Berghmens, B. (2011). Hypopressive gymnastics: Evidence for an alternative training for women with local proprioceptive deficit of the pelvic floor muscles. Fisioterapia Brasil. Vol 12 (6), p 468-471.
Navarro-Brazalez et al, 2020, 'Effectiveness of Hypopressive exercises in women with pelvic floor dysfunction: a randomised control study', Journal of Clinical Medicine, vol 9 (4): 1149.