health

Our health is one of those weird things that we don't really think about until something isn't working properly or we are in pain

I think why I didn't enjoy pregnancy the first time round was because I expected things to work/feel as they always did, and that definitely wasn't true anymore!  It's also why peri-menopause is a challenge...

I certainly never considered my pelvic floor until after having my first baby/prolapse

And when I injured my back, the constant pain impacted everything I di…

After the tale of my thumb injury in last week's email it turns out I am, as my family would say, in the wars

We went for a little wander last week before school started again

I went to cross the road and stepped off the kerb - not realising it was a double kerb

So my foot landed too heavy too soon, my ankle gave way and I fell onto both knees into the road

Luckily it was a Sunday and there was no traffic!

But I hurt my ankles, knees and feet - and my pride!

I was worried that it would ham…

Did you start your health goals this week? 

For me it was lovely to start easy with Aerobics on Wednesday and then just a few classes

I did have to start even easier than I thought I would have to though...

We had a fun New Years Day - going in to Manchester to go bowling

I was very happy to win our first game and get the highest score I've ever had!

We also did a bit of ping pong and karaoke

As we were leaving we spotted a punching ball test your strength so decided to have one last chal…

I started to suffer with anxiety and obviously that brings in struggling to breathe sometimes and then panic attacks and that kind of thing.

I was also struggling with putting weight on and was mindful that I needed to do some exercise - I wanted to lose weight but also had anxiety going on.

I felt like all the other kind of exercise that I did - swimming, joining the gym, walking - they just never hit the anxiety. 

So I would do them and never feel relaxed or feel calm. And then I would go t…

I've been posting a lot on Facebook recently as I'm trying to raise my profile a bit

And it's obviously working as I'm reaching more people

But with that come people who aren't really a good fit for what I do

This meant that last week I got trolled on one of my videos 

It was just a simple video - showing hip circles as a way to ease out your back and hips after sitting for a while

So nothing massively fitness about it and nothing controversial

But this bloke said that if I lost some fat t…

It's been a while since my first blog about prolapse and a few things have changed since then.  So I thought I'd do a couple of updates

There are two ways you can look at helping with POP symptoms - what can you do to prevent things getting worse and what can you do to make things better.

So first we'll look at preventing things getting worse

One of the key things with this is looking at intra abdominal pressure (IAP)

IAP is the pressure within the abdominal cavity and is reliant on the flui…

I had a Balinese-inspired massage last week and the beginning of the ritual was to put a heated eye mask on

I then enjoyed being massaged with small and large bamboo sticks as well as with hands. 

Then the time came to roll over...

Weirdly, having an eye mask on made it really difficult for me to turn! 

That small dulling of one of my senses affected the rest of my body, especially my proprioception - where I was in space.  In the end I had to lift it off my eyes so that I felt safe to move!…

It's so easy to lose yourself when you become a mum...

In the early days, you're at the beck and call of a tiny dictator, so something as simple as having a shower can feel like a real treat!

You may then get so used to putting everybody else first that you forget your own needs

I only woke up to this fact a few years ago.  So I decided to do some training that was less about exercise for once and more about my mood.

I learnt a few simple steps and have been implementing these regularly and …

I've created a Back Pain Relief course for Mums-to-be and one of the modules is all about sleep

Quality of sleep has a strong association with back pain.

It also affects stress levels which can have a knock-on effect on your pelvic floor

I really struggled at the beginning of the first lockdown and was waking at 4-5am every morning.  To begin with I stayed in bed for a couple of hours, just trying to get back to sleep but never really managing to

I came to the conclusion that it was better t…

This should cover all the questions I'm normally asked about exercise and pregnancy, but if you have any questions I haven't covered please ask below!

For most women, exercising during pregnancy will be of great benefit.  You should always seek the advice of your healthcare provider first, especially if you have a higher risk pregnancy or an underlying health issue.  They will then advise you on the type of exercise that is suitable for you.

All the published guidelines and benefits are based …