Controlling pain while exercising with endo ?

[Adele-84]

Hi Ladies, I am wondering if anyone has found a way of controlling pain whilst exercising with endo? I'm 18 months post lap, stage 3. My op scars still hurt and pull when I'm exercising, only holding them seems to help. I am thinking maybe some kind of compression garment might help.

I am also 4 months post partial thyroidectomy so I'm piling on weight, hence even more pressure to exercise 😥

This also means I am double fatigued so any tips on increasing energy to get you through exercise also welcome!

[Hidden]

The thing with exercises with endo is that you have both a combination of an overactive pelvic floor and adhesions.

If you do any strenuous activity your adhesions can tense up and irritate you since as my physiotheprist says they like to be loosened up gently, so yes belly rubs are good but we ourselves tend to apply too much pressure, a physiotheprist with experience in adhesions may be able to teach you how to loosen up the adhesions with your hands or a roller tool.

With an overactive pelvic floor, your pelvic floor is in a naturally overtensed state so anything that requires core work including heavy lifting will further tense it and cause more pain. If you stretch after core work it can also lead to a pulled muscle because everything's so tensed. A pelvic floor physiotheprist can teach you how to loosen everything up and how to relax it.

What I'm trying to say is so not do anything strenuous such as wrestling, heavy weight lifting, or Pilates because they will bother your pelvic floor.

Instead try yoga, go easy first, holding poses for 15 seconds then slowly adding time each day to a minute. Over time add more advanced poses.

You can also try bellydancing which doesn't work on core strength it actually works on stretching and training your core and pelvic floor. It was originally created to train women for more easily giving birth.

[tmc182]

Have you tried cycling? Can burn a reasonable amount of calories depending how far and how fast you travel. I have a road bike set up for endurance so not too severe a riding position but I find being scrunched over helps keep my stomach relatively still while my legs do all the work. On a bad day I'll still be in pain but can often ride 2/3 hours pain free.

[bugsy141]

Have you tried swimming? Good all round form of exercise could try different strokes to see what suits you best

[Weec]

Hi I don't know much about either of your issues yet I'm afraid as I have yet to have surgery but I did pick up on your comment about a compression garment. I have just bought a haramaki tummy wrap on amazon made by a company called Kokoro having read something about them on this forum. I got it mainly for comfort during my period as its heat helps me and the tightness of the wrap seems to help too. I'm not sure if it would help or not but just thought i'd mention it. Good luck x

[Adele-84]

Thank you Ladies, I have tried cycling and swimming without much luck. I struggle to find the right position on a bike that doesn't pull (being 6ft tall doesn't help!) Swimming is better but again haven't found a stroke that doesn't pull and can't hold tummy and swim at same time ! I'm jogging and weight training mainly at the moment, do Zumba and going to try some other classes again soon. Thank you Weec I'll have a look on Amazon xx