A common story I hear: A patient calls me and says this, “I just had my yearly with my Dr, and she told me I have prolapse and should schedule surgery. I’m scared. I don’t want to have surgery. I didn’t even know I had prolapse. Someone told me I should check if you could help me. Do I really need surgery?”
Here’s the deets you REALLY need to know:
Most women who have had 2+ vaginal births have SOME degree of prolapse, even if they don’t realize it.
Many who have prolapse have no symptoms (vaginal heaviness and pressure are the most common).
Prolapse can vary in severity. It’s graded from 1-4, but grade is NOT highly correlated with symptoms. You can have a grade 3 prolapse with no symptoms and a grade 1-2 prolapse with symptoms.
Research shows that pelvic PT is the very BEST treatment for mild-moderate prolapse (not surgery!), and I’ve seen many women with grade 1-3 prolapse become symptoms FREE!
The goal of pelvic PT is not necessarily to change the grade of prolapse but to change the symptoms.
Severe prolapse may need surgery, but this is RARE. I’ve seen 2 women in my 5 years of patients who have required surgery. However, surgery is commonly prescribed as treatment for prolapse, regardless of severity of symptoms or degree of prolapse, and often pelvic PT is not utilized as a conservative treatment option first.
Surgery does have a high failure rate, and surgery is always trauma. My opinion: we should exhaust conservative measures before deciding surgery is necessary.
If you’ve been told you have prolapse, please don’t fear! This is not a death sentence – SO many women have prolapse (most don’t realize how common it is), and most do NOT need surgery! Pelvic PT is fantastic at treating symptoms!
THREE ways we can start treating your prolapse today:
1. Comment HELP, and we’ll send you our FREE E-guide to the pelvic floor and inner core, where you’ll get 3 steps toward healing!
2. Schedule an in-person or virtual appointment
3. Get Pelvic Core, my 4-week online course that has helped hundreds of women JUST LIKE YOU heal prolapse symptoms from the comfort of their own homes in just 5 minutes/day.
