Nine years ago I was diagnosed with a grade 2 cystocele after the birth of my 3 children. I was referred to a pelvic floor physiotherapist where I was trained to do kegels and various pelvic floor exercises to remedy the symptoms. While the symptoms got better over time they didn’t completely go away. I went on to have my last baby and continued with physiotherapy. I was given a kegel exercise routine to practice daily. This practice along with stress created a hypertonic pelvic floor. My symptoms were exasperated and eventually my pelvic floor disfunction worsened. The cystocele was now at stage 3 along with a uterine prolapse. At this point the pelvic pain I experienced was so bad I was bed ridden most days.

While I wondered what the future held for me I poured through websites and FB groups to find help. It looked bleak. Most of the people going through what I was were having surgery or already had surgery with not so great results. Even my physiotherapist had suggested surgery would be in my future. I was depressed and heart broken. I couldn’t do any of the activities I loved with my kids. Some days I couldn’t even take care of the house or them.

Then one day a group I was in was interviewing Trista Zinn in a podcast and I listened in. She talked about her personal experience with prolapse and that’s when things started looking brighter for me. I started to have hope again. Long story short Trista patiently and graciously taught me how to do Hypopressives in the summer of 2016. By August of 2016 I was no longer stuck in bed. By September of 2016 I was back doing gentle activities like walking, swimming and biking with my kids. The pain was lessening and the depression was lifting. By the spring of 2017 my physiotherapist said I had healed myself. By June 2017 my urogynocolgist who was supposed to do my surgery, had I needed it, said there were ZERO signs of prolapse and sent me home.

To this day Hypopressives are still one of my favourite exercises. They are one of the best tools I have been given for core function, pelvic health and posture. They gave me my life back.

Jamie L.M.

Jamie L.M. August 11, 2018