Abdominal Therapy & Menstrual Health

 

We have 4 vital signs in our bodies that are used to determine our health: blood pressure, temperature, breathing rate and heart rate. Women have a fifth vital sign, our periods. 

During the consultation process you are asked a lot of questions about your periods and how they present, this is because it gives me (and in turn you) an incredible insight into your state of health around menstruating and also your fertility. I could talk all day about periods and why they are so important and that is because they are! Stopping our periods denies us of this insightful information as well as all the other benefits that come with a monthly bleed. Contraception is an important choice for women to have, however, most of the women I work with were initially put on hormonal contraceptives to ‘treat’ teenage period problems and/or acne. This prescription is handed out with very little information provided as to what hormonal contraceptives do to our health, fertility and even state of mind. So many women think they are still having a period on their week's break and I rarely come across a client who understands that when you are on the pill you aren’t having a period. It doesn’t control our cycles, it hijacks them, if you are on any form of hormone treatment you can not balance your hormones and therefore can not actually correct what was causing the hormonal imbalances and awful periods in the first place. Then we remove hormone contraceptives when we decide to try for a baby and expect it to happen over night when in some cases you haven’t even had a normal period in 15+years. 

Any teenage girl or young woman being prescribed hormones as a form of treatment for problems with their periods without any testing or investigation is being done a huge disservice.  The statistics around diagnosis times for conditions such as endometriosis are testament to this. Problem periods are not something that we should just live with, they are not a card that we have been dealt. They are telling us that something is out of balance, they are showing us what is wrong. I personally believe that this is a multilayer problem, not just with the physiology of periods, but our relationship to something that is more powerful than anything else, the ability to produce life. Your relationship with your period should be the best relationship of your life, the ebb and flow that we move through each move should be one we work with not against. When you do it is life changing and one of the most empowering things you can educate yourself on. The world would be a very different place if men had periods! 

Abdominal therapy combined with nutrition and effective tracking of your cycle can help alleviate menstrual problems and therefore improve your overall health and wellbeing. Abdominal therapy works physiologically by improving the position of the uterus in the pelvis therefore boosting the five systems of flow, arterial, venous, lymph, nerve and chi. When these systems are in optimal flow our problems arrive and leave in the healthiest way possible. When our uterus isn’t in her optimum position then congestion presents and this hinders this flow and therefore the overall health of this organ. 

Some causes of a displaced uterus could be;

  • Repeated pregnancies close together with difficult deliveries

  • Poor professional care during pregnancy, delivery and postpartum

  • Carrying heavy burdens just before or during menstruation and too soon after childbirth

  • Walking barefoot on cold floors and or wet grass

  • Wearing high heeled shoes

  • Running on cement surfaces

  • Injury to your sacrum or tailbone from a fall or accident, ie landing on your coccyx, car accidents etc

  • Chronic constipation causing straining when having a bowel movement 

  • Poor alignment of pelvic bones with spinal column 

  • Carrying your children on your hips for prolonged periods of time 

  • Modern life, posture, the way we sit

  • Emotional armouring from rape or sexual abuse 

  • Aging and gravity’s effect on ligaments

  • High impact dancing, aerobics or sports

  • Chronic cough 

  • Surgical procedures

Symptoms of a displaced uterus in regards to menstrual health:

Please note: this list is in relation to symptoms related to when we menstruate, other symptoms are listed in the relevant pages.

  • Dysmenorrhea 

  • Late, early or irregular periods

  • Dark, thick blood at the beginning or end of your period

  • Blood clots during your menses

  • Excessive bleeding during your period 

  • Headaches and/or migraines with menses

  • Dizziness with menses

  • Premenstrual Syndrome which is LONG list of symptoms that many women suffer from to varying degrees each month

  • Depression, moo swings and other emotional imbalances as a result of changes throughout menses

  • Endometriosis 

  • Endometritis

  • Uterine polyps 

  • Uterine fibroids

  • Uterine infections

  • Vaginal yeast conditions 

  • Vaginitis

  • Painful intercourse

  • Undiagnosed pelvic pain

  • Ovarian cysts

  • PCOS (Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome 

  • Painful ovulation

  • Irregular or failure to ovulate

  • Prolapse

  • Difficult menopause

  • Constipation (particularly when linked with ur cycle)

  • Lower back ache

  • Sore heels when walking 

This is I’m sure not in any way a complete list but does illustrate how the health and position of our uterus dictates the health of our periods. It also shows that if we correct the imbalances we are cleaning the way to very easy and healthy monthly bleed. The self care massage and other aftercare suggestions combined with treatments can do just this, just imagine that.

 

To discover how Abdominal Therapy with Jo Anderson can support your menstrual health, book an appointment by following the link below.