What is Prolapse?

This video today is going to be just a really quick synopsis and some education around what prolapse is.

So I often see women that come into the clinic and they have been diagnosed with some type of prolapse. They’re often given a grade and that’s pretty much all the information that they received. Many people will Google it before they come in. And that can be a really scary thing. A lot of the talk about prolapse is really negative. Some of the images are really scary. And going down that rabbit hole can really increase your anxiety around your prolapse and make you not want to do anything. So this is just gonna be a really quick video on what is prolapse and understanding it.

What is Prolapse?

Prolapse is a descent or a drop down of one of your pelvic organs, often your bladder or your rectum. And what happens is those organs drop or descend a little bit and they can push on your vaginal walls. So your anterior or posterior wall. When we think about our vagina, it is not a hollow tube. We often see it depicted as just like this hollow tube. That’s not what your vagina actually looks like. It has sides and the tissues kind of come together versus being a hollow tube.

So if you imagine your bladder sitting here. If it descends a little bit, it can push on your vaginal wall and can cause some dissent of your vaginal wall. Unless you have a really significant uterine prolapse, no organs are going to fall out of your body. Your bladder is not going to fall out, your rectum is not going to fall out of your body. It can often feel like it and feeling that heaviness and it can be scary, but nothing is gonna fall out.

Understanding Prolapse

Risk factors for your prolapse include genetics (if you just have some hypermobility), BMI, chronic constipation, pregnancy and vaginal delivery. Those are all risk factors for developing a prolapse.

A lot of those you can’t control. Exercise is not a risk factor. So that’s important to understand. Some people will come in and think I just did way too much and I caused my prolapse. That’s not true. Exercise is not a risk factor.

So this was just a quick synopsis on prolapse. If you are out there and you are really struggling, find a really good pelvic health PT. They can be really helpful in helping decrease your symptoms.