What’s the normal position for a uterus?

The medical view

Orthodox medicine accepts quite wide variations in the position of the uterus as “normal”, and sees any effects as “something to put up with” unless they are a symptom of another even more severe underlying medical problem.  Where the effects include severe pain or discomfort, some treatment may be suggested, but these are often invasive or designed to deal with the discomfort rather than the underlying problem.  Perhaps it is not surprising that as the problem of a misaligned uterus is not recognised until it is severe, the treatment tends to be severe too.

It also suggests that for a woman with a tilted uterus the cause is completely genetic, and it is not by itself a problem. It would be difficult to do research which would show the difference between women being born with a tipped uterus or developing one as they grow up through the interaction of our bones and muscles. For orthodox medicine, both these causes are equally “natural”. As a result, orthodox medicine concentrates on more dramatic factors that can cause a uterus that is in a “normal” placement to become retroverted. These causes include weakening of the ligaments as a result of the stretching during pregnancy or the fall in oestrogen levels following menopause, and internal scar tissue formation due to other conditions such as endometriosis or pelvic inflammatory disease.

Abdominal Sacral Massage can help to alleviate symptoms such as painful periods, heavy periods, infrequent periods, lower back pain and other problems associated with the muscles around the lower part of the spine. It will also help to create optimum conditions for fertility.

 Symptoms

The two most commonly-occurring symptoms include pain during intercourse and period pain, the result of pressure that the retroverted uterus places on the rectum and the ligaments around the coccyx (“tailbone”). Rarer symptoms associated with a retroverted uterus include lower back pain, increased frequency of urinary tract infections such as cystitis, incontinence and fertility difficulties.

There is also some scientific evidence that a retroverted uterus may indicate a greatly increased likelihood of suffering prolapse later in life. In the study, 69% of grade 2-4 prolapses involved a retroverted uterus, 4.5 times more than a forward-tipped one. ( Bernard Haylen, International Urogynecology Journal, Volume 17, Number 6, November 2006 , pp. 555-558).

For mild cases, no treatment is suggested beyond eating a high fibre diet and avoiding heavy lifting. The pelvic floor exercises (Kegel exercises) that many women use during pregnancy are suggested, but not any exercises to strengthen the supporting ligaments. Abdominal-Sacral Massage operates in this area to strengthen the uterine area as a whole, including a simple self-help massage regime that can be used to supplement pelvic floor exercises.

If you would like to read about flooding and heavy bleeding, you can do so here.