Pelvic Health and Strength Training Considerations for Post Menopausal Prolapse
Recently I have had a wave of post menopausal clients with prolapse, join my pelvic health & strength programme, LIMITLESS!
These are women who have found and fallen in love with strength training but have recently experienced a prolapse or prolapse diagnosis. But why does prolapse happen after menopause and what is important from both a pelvic floor and strength training perspective?
The pelvic floor muscles and tissues
If you are post menopausal, you are possibly in a lower estrogen state. Estrogen is super important for the health of the tissues and muscles of the pelvic floor, and in this lower estrogen state, the tissues and muscles may lack strength, flexibility, or just a bit of oomph!
This can shine a light on pelvic floor symptoms that suddenly seem to crop up or just more heightened sensations of a bulge – which may or may not have been there from an anatomical perspective but is now symptomatic.
Pelvic floor muscle training may be a distant memory, especially if you gave birth decades before. Or have experienced zero issues prior to your diagnosis. Therefore the muscles would probably benefit from traditional pelvic floor muscle training. Alongside Vaginal topical estrogen, prescribed by a GP. With this combination, you are not only improving the quality of the tissues, but also the fitness of the muscles.
The impact of ageing on the pelvic floor
All my older clients are young at heart! But age can be a significant factor for a decline in pelvic floor health, bone health and an increase in symptoms. In the same way our leg muscles get weaker if we are not training them, our pelvic floor muscles can get weaker if they aren’t being trained. And at the same time, trying to offset decline in estrogen. Again, a vote for pelvic floor muscle training (as directed by a pelvic health physio) and vaginal estrogen (prescribed by GP).
Strength training considerations
There is a huge amount of chat about strength training – at any age but especially during peri menopause and beyond. There are a gazillion benefits so it’s not about avoiding strength training post menopause, but maybe how it’s done.
Not everyone needs to lift super heavy to get the benefits (in fact, research shows that progress can be made at almost any load and rep range). This gives untrained, older women who would like to strength train, a good place to start and then gradually increase load and intensity.
Breathing strategies, such as “exhale before exertion” might also be useful to get the diaphragm and pelvic floor on board when lifting. Plus the use of a fully coordinated brace when needed – whether that be in the gym or in activities of daily life.
But whilst the fitness industry looks the other way when it comes to pelvic health, personal trainers are often not screening for or considering pelvic floor dysfunction for their post menopausal clients. If you’re a personal trainer reading this, you might like to check out my pelvic health course for exercise professionals.
Other blogs on this topic include:
Menopause and the pelvic floor