Quick Answer
If you’re struggling after prolapse surgery, that’s worth raising directly with your surgical team first, especially if you have pain, bleeding, or symptoms that feel different from what you were told to expect. Once you’ve been cleared to exercise, I’ve seen many women recovering from prolapse surgery achieve real, sometimes significant, improvement in pelvic floor strength, symptoms and confidence with consistent Hypopressives practice. No exercise programme can promise it will prevent the need for further surgery, but that improvement is often genuinely meaningful in its own right.
When to Contact Your Surgical Team
Some pain, some fatigue, and a slow recovery timeline are normal after prolapse surgery. But contact your surgical team or GP promptly if you notice: new or worsening pain, unexpected bleeding or discharge, fever, difficulty passing urine or opening your bowels, or a feeling that something has changed or come down again. These are the kinds of things that need a clinical assessment, not an exercise programme, and this page isn’t a substitute for that conversation.
Pelvic organ prolapse occurs when one or more of the organs (uterus, bladder, or rectum) in the pelvis slip down from their normal position & bulge into the vagina. Many women will opt for prolapse surgery, which can often be a successful and simple solution.
However, for some women, the surgery may not work out as expected and with this may become persistent and uncomfortable symptoms such as pressure, bulging and incontinence. Potentially even the return of the prolapse itself.
If you are one of those women, where the surgery didn’t work out as planned, there are non-surgical options like Hypopressives that may help you manage some of the symptoms.
How Hypopressives Can Help You Manage Prolapse and the Related Symptoms
Hypopressives offer an effective approach and set of exercises for pelvic organ prolapse. This is because it increases the resting tone of the pelvic floor and, with repeated training, may help relieve some of the pressure and heaviness in the vagina.
We used to think that the organs of the pelvis “fell out” because of a weak pelvic floor. The answer to this seemed to be, do a great number of Kegel exercises to target those weak pelvic floor muscles. Unfortunately, the reality for many women has been that they have not worked to solve their problems. What we now know is that the pelvic organs don’t “fall out”, but they are pushed out, by increased intra-abdominal pressure and weakened connective tissue. We therefore need to look at the pressure system that exists in our core canister, known as Intra-abdominal pressure.
Standard “core” or abdominal exercises like crunches and sit ups increase the intra-abdominal pressure, which can push the pelvic organs down or out. Hypopressives on the other hand strengthen the pelvic floor and abdominal floor without the unwanted downward pressure.
In Simone’s experience, many women recovering from prolapse surgery find real, sometimes significant relief from these symptoms alongside improved general wellbeing and confidence, particularly when surgery hasn’t fully resolved things. Results vary by individual circumstances, and Hypopressives work alongside, not instead of, your surgical team’s advice.
This approach may suit anyone who has had surgery that didn’t fully resolve the issue, or who wants a gentler way to support their pelvic floor once they’re medically cleared to exercise.
What are Hypopressives and How Exactly Does it Work?
Hypopressives are the combination of a unique breathing technique, called an Apnea, and a specific pose. It’s a powerful way to strengthen the muscles that hold your pelvic organs in place.
When you do the Apnea you inhale deeply, creating space for your diaphragm to drop, and when you exhale and hold your breath, you’re activating the muscles of your core and pelvic floor.
It’s a subtle but effective way to create internal pressure that helps support your pelvic organs, which is key in managing prolapse symptoms.
This technique also works on improving posture.
Many of us unknowingly collapse into poor posture, which increases the strain on our pelvic floor.
Hypopressives help realign the body and encourage a strong, stable core that’s essential for maintaining pelvic health.
How Hypopressives Can Genuinely Help After Surgery
While no exercise programme, including Hypopressives, can promise it will prevent the need for further prolapse surgery, the evidence and Simone’s own experience teaching Hypopressives point to real, meaningful benefits in the meantime: an 8-week, supervised Hypopressives programme in 117 women with pelvic floor dysfunction and urinary incontinence symptoms (not specifically a post-surgical group) found significant improvements in pelvic floor muscle strength and several validated symptom measures compared to a control group (Molina-Torres et al., 2023, Neurourology and Urodynamics), and Simone has seen many of her own post-surgical clients experience similarly real improvement in strength, comfort and confidence.
That study wasn’t about post-surgical recovery specifically, so it can’t tell us exactly what to expect after your particular procedure. What it suggests is that, once you’re medically cleared to exercise, a properly taught Hypopressives programme may help general pelvic floor function and comfort. Whether and when that’s appropriate for you after surgery is a question for your surgical team or a women’s health physiotherapist, not something this page can answer for your specific situation.
Getting Started With Hypopressives
For the Hypopressives classes it is important that you learn the Breathing/Apnea technique properly so that you can get the most out of the classes and the time you invest in yourself. Each week Simone runs Fundamentals sessions on Zoom where she explains the technique and guides you through all the steps.
She will also give you feedback to make sure that you’re doing it correctly. For some, the technique may come more quickly than others. Some of her clients, who are tighter in the ribs and thoracic spine do tend to take a little longer. And here’s the golden rule – for impactful change, Simone recommends at least three 15 to 20-minute workouts per week. Consistency is your best friend on this journey towards wellness.
