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Lifestyle and home remedies
By Mayo Clinic staffDepending on the severity of the condition, self-care measures may provide the relief you need:
- Perform Kegel exercises.
- Avoid constipation by eating high-fiber foods and drinking plenty of fluids.
- Avoid heavy lifting.
- Try to control coughing.
- Lose weight if you're overweight or obese.
Kegel exercises
Kegel exercises, designed to strengthen your pelvic floor muscles, can help both prevent and ease symptoms of a rectocele. To perform Kegel exercises:
- Contract your pelvic floor muscles — the muscles you use to stop urinating.
- Hold them for a count of five and then relax for a count of five.
- Work up to 10 to 15 repetitions at a time.
- Repeat three times daily.
Kegel exercises may be most successful when they're taught by a therapist using biofeedback. Biofeedback uses information from a variety of (pain-free) monitoring devices to help teach you to control certain involuntary body responses, such as muscle tension. In this case, biofeedback can show whether you're contracting the correct muscles and using the right technique for the exercises to work to their best effect.
- Park AJ, et al. Clinical manifestations, diagnosis, and nonsurgical management of posterior vaginal defects. http://www.uptodate.com/home/index.html. Accessed Feb. 8, 2010.
- Tarnay CM. Pelvic organ prolapse. In: DeCherney AH, et al. Current Diagnosis & Treatment Obstetrics & Gynecology. 10th ed. New York, N.Y.: McGraw-Hill Medical; 2007. http://www.accessmedicine.com/content.aspx?aid=2390520. Accessed Feb. 8, 2010.
- American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists. Pelvic organ prolapse. Obstetrics & Gynecology. 2007;110:717.
- Hughes D, et al. Pelvic organ prolapse. In: Schorge JO, et al. Williams Gynecology. New York, N.Y.: McGraw-Hill Medical; 2008. http://www.accessmedicine.com/content.aspx?aid=3159899. Accessed Feb. 8, 2010.
- Park AJ, et al. Surgical management of posterior vaginal defects. http://www.uptodate.com/home/index.html. Accessed Feb. 8, 2010.
- Cundiff GW, et al. Evaluation and treatment of women with rectocele: Focus on associated defecatory and sexual dysfunction. Obstetrics & Gynecology. 2004;104:1403.
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