Kegel exercises hurting 7wks after Lap for excision of Endo.

[sara75]

Had my endo excised via lap 7wks ago and am now in no pain (woo hoo!) so am very pleased. However, I sometimes feel very mild prolapse feeling (had it for years really mild) so with it being 7wks, I tried Kegels - felt fine at the time, but in pain the next couple of days, which is fading away now.

To me it makes sense cos everything is still healing and all you are doing is pulling your insides up and down, so thinking to myself it's too soon, but I can't find anything from other women who have/had pain from kegels either after a lap or cos they've got endo. Anyone here have/had that? Sara xx

[Impatient]

I would suggest that as with ANY form of exercising, after a surgery - if it hurts then stop and wait a week or two more before trying again, giving yourself more healing time. 7 weeks is still very soon after surgery.

The rule of thumb is not to go to the gym for 10 weeks post op. While not quite in the same league, anything that causes extra discomfort and pain is best avoided while in the healing stages. It hurts for a reason - a warning sign you are doing too much.

Wishing you speedy recovery.

[sara75 in reply to Impatient]

Thanks Impatient - Good to know that I'm still early in the healing process so it's normal for this to hurt. It's just it feels like ages ago since the op cos I'm just waiting so I can do all the things I did before the endo got bad. I'll try the kegels again in a couple of weeks or so and see what it's like then. Thanks again, Sara xx

[Miwa]

hi sara,

as a womens health physio with endo, i would recommend that you continue to do your kegel exercises post operatively as it is very important for the healing process. when you squeeze and engage your pelvic floor you are bringing fresh blood into the area which helps to speed up the healing process. The fresh blood also flushes out white blood cells, which cause swelling and pain. So as these are flushed out it will reduce the swelling and pain. you may be getting pain as you are engaging other muscles other than your pelvic floor at present, as it is always harder to do initially post operatively, due to the internal swelling and pain. So keep working on them, but only until you feel them tiring. So if you can only squeeze them three times before you can no longer feel them, stop there. do them three times a day if you can.

i hope this helps

xx

[sara75 in reply to Miwa]

Hi, you say it reduces pain, but like I said, I was 100% pain-free until I did kegels! They cause cause pain the next day, which keeps getting worse if I persevere!

Also you also say they do hurt as you are engaging different muscles - they never used to hurt before the op, so I know they don't normally hurt me.

I doesn't feel right to do something that causes pain which gets progressively worse - it's pulling the incision areas around and stressing them when they are trying to heal. I'll try again in a couple of weeks instead as I prefer to be pain-free! Sara xx

[Miwa]

That is fair enough. You need to do what feels right for you. Did they remove some of your pelvic floor fascia with the excision? If they did, this could be why they hurt when you are engaging them. Leave it for a couple of weeks and try them again. If they are still causing pain I would speak to your consultant, as the healing process itself takes 6 weeks, so in theory everything should have healed inside.

Adele xxx

[sara75 in reply to Miwa]

Hi, no the surgeon didn't take any pelvic floor out, but the endo was cut out of both ligaments at the back of my womb, the pouch of douglas, and my left fallopian tube was pulled up right out of place and stuck to the side of my womb so that had to be freed.

I did think by 7wks everything should be ok by now, but like Impatient said, it's still really early in the healing process. I'll try the kegels again in a couple of wks and hopefully they won't hurt as much. Thanks again, Sara xx