I have prolapse. Now what?

• Can I run?

• Can I lift weights?

• Should I avoid jumping?

• What if I feel pressure or heaviness when I exercise?

• Am I making my prolapse worse?

Women are talking more openly about pelvic organ prolapse and incontinence, and that is a huge step forward.

But I think we've created another problem.

Women are learning they have options. They're finding pelvic health physiotherapy. They're learning about pelvic floor exercises, breathing, pressure management and pessaries.

But too often, the advice stops at:

Don't do anything that causes symptoms.

And if running causes heaviness?

Stop running.

If lifting weights makes you feel pressure?

Don't lift as heavy.

If jumping makes you leak?

Don't jump.

But what if, instead of spending our lives trying to stay below that symptom threshold, we asked a different question:

Can we move the threshold?

That's what I discussed with physical therapist Caroline Packard, founder of Connect Pelvic Floor Fitness, in Episode 131 of The Pelvic Floor Project.