Dear Friend,
If you've been diagnosed with pelvic organ prolapse (cystocele, rectocele or uterine prolapse), the odds are excellent you have gotten baffling advice.
Some doctors will tell you you must have surgery to "repair" the prolapse. Others will insist on a hysterectomy. You may have been given a pessary or told to "do nothing" and to wait and see if it gets worse.
In any of these cases, you probably are worried, frightened, feel that your body has let you down. The bulging and pulling is probably uncomfortable. You may be wondering if your sex life is over or if you'll be able to lift, garden, exercise and be physically active.
Having your pelvic organs trying to fall out is a deeply disturbing experience. But take a deep breath and relax while I explain that you can successfully and comfortably manage your condition for a lifetime without surgery. Thousands of women just like you have done so.
First of all, my name is Christine Kent. Let me tell you my story so you understand that I know both what you are going through and that I know what I'm talking about.
In 1992 I had surgery to remove small fibroids from my uterus. The surgeon suggested that "while he was in there" he do a bladder neck suspension to address my very minor stress incontinence. Foolishly, I agreed after being assured that it was a state-of-the-art procedure and entirely routine.
Two weeks later I experienced stage three uterine prolapse. My cervix was bulging out between my legs. I was frantic. I called my surgeon. "Oh," he exclaimed, "Now this is very serious and hysterectomy is your only alternative." I knew I didn't want a hysterectomy so I struggled with the prolapse, the discomfort, pulling and bulging for almost ten years.
Finally I got angry.
A Revolution is Born
I am a Registered Nurse and know how to read the medical texts and journals and in 2001 I began what what to become a two year marathon of research at the University of New Mexico Medical School library.
I was appalled at what I learned. First, the "state-of-the-art" procedure my surgeon recommended for the bladder neck suspension was developed in the 1940's and according to the medical literature virtually always results in uterine prolapse! No Board certified surgeon could be unaware of this.
I reviewed hundreds of surgical procedures, virtually all of them "experiments" undertaken on unwitting female patients. I studied the female anatomy and the geometry of the female pelvic support system. Unlike doctors who limit themselves to narrow disciplines, I looked across medical boundaries into internal medicine, orthopedics and urology.
What I learned may shock you.
First, the female pelvic organ support system is an astonishingly complex but perfect system. It will work for a lifetime. But it is built on two essential elements, the spine and the uterus.
Let's start with the spine. When you look at a young woman, part of the lovely gracefulness comes from the pronounced lumbar or lower back curvature. This is the natural shape of the female spine. You probably don't realize it, but your sacral vertebrae (the first four vertebrae at the base of your spine) viewed from inside the pelvis are actually parallel to the ground. As we evolved and assumed bipedal posture, our upper bodies stood upright but from the waist down, our bodies remained horizontal.
This gave us the ability to give birth to large headed offspring and still keep our organs inside where they belong. However, with the comforts of modern civilization, sitting, standing and walking in ways foreign to how we sat, stood and walked as our bodies were evolving, by age thirty, we start to lose our lumbar curve. Think about how you sit when your relaxed. Chances are your spine assumes more of a "C" shape than an "S" shape.
This loss of lumbar curvature pulls the organs away from the front abdominal wall where they belong and they start to head south. Once I saw this, the solution became relatively easy. Women have to reestablish their natural female posture. As I experimented with my own prolapse (and remember mine was surgically induced and therefore much less amenable to correction) I started getting results!
Another breakthrough was the realization that all the hoopla about the "pelvic floor" the medical system talks about is nonsense. In the 16th century, the first serious anatomical illustrations were done by a man named Vesalius (1514-1564). He showed the female pelvis like a bowl with the opening a the bottom.
This is wildly inaccurate.
It gets worse. It wasn't until the mid-1950's (four hundred years later) that anyone noticed. And then it was a scientific paper written by veterinarians! It took another thirty years before this change got integrated into the medical school curriculum. To this day, if you look in the contemporary surgical texts (and I have all of them) about half the illustrations are still oriented inaccurately.
What does this mean to you?
It means that the medical system does not understand how the pelvic organ support system actually works. The "pelvic floor" is actually closer to a wall. The pelvic opening is actually at the back of the pelvis. The pelvic floor is actually the pubic bone: a very solid foundation for your pelvic organs, if you can keep them over the pubic bone, where they belong.
It gets worse.
All of the surgeries developed to "correct" these problems (and there are over one hundred and fifty of them) are based on an inaccurate set of assumptions about how the pelvic organs will settle when the woman leaves the operating table and actually stands, walks and sits upright.
The second critical element is the uterus. If you look very carefully at the female anatomy, it becomes clear uterus is like the hub of a bicycle wheel. It holds all the spokes together. It is not just an old wives tale that after hysterectomy, women get broader across the backside. When the uterus is gone, the whole pelvic system, gut, bladder, pelvis and spine become profoundly destabilized.
You may not know it, but the largest group of chronic lower back pain sufferers are post-hysterectomy women. Once you understand the anatomy, it is no surprise. And that is just the beginning. Some women are lucky and have no problems after hysterectomy. But many suffer very serious, long-term effects which can be devastating.
With this new perspective, I wrote the first edition of Saving the Whole Woman which was published in 2003. The same year, I put up my web site, www.wholewoman.com. I shared what I had learned with women all over the world who were desperate for alternatives to radical surgery.
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When Saving the Whole Woman, Natural Alternatives to Surgery for Pelvic Organ Prolapse and Urinary Incontinence was published in 2003, it was the first book of its kind. Astonishingly, today it remains the only such book to address this issue! It was a great beginning. It sold 6,000 copies, a very respectable number for a small publisher and a first-time author. And, it got noticed by a number of important people in the field. More importantly, it gave hope to thousands of women who had been told they had a “disease” that was only treatable by surgery.
Saving the Whole Woman blew apart the myth that prolapse is a disease and that surgery is necessary. I showed that surgery is not only unnecessary, it is seriously hazardous to your health.
On the forum, the results started coming in. Women were canceling their operations. They were back to mountain biking, running and working out. They were lifting the toddlers without fear. The bulging and pulling was shrinking and their organs were finding their way back to where they belonged.
Here are just a few examples of hundreds you'll find on the forum. They have been edited only to correct spelling and formatting. These are from real women getting real results.
This fire breathing is helping me. I want to sing it from the treetops. Thank you Christine! - GranolaMom
I have been to many doctors. None of them could figure out the pain, which was low abdominal, low back pain after bowel movements. I found this web site and the posture information while researching, and within a few days of making posture corrections, the pain is mostly gone, AND my rectocele and cystocele have both gone from stage 2 to stage 1. - Tracy
For me, I will always be grateful for Christine, her materials, her inspiration and instruction, and for all of you who travel a similar path. By the way, the exercises are still instrumental in my healing program. I didn’t do them for a couple of days and I noticed! - Marie
I just turned 48 and had what I believe to be a global prolapse (cystocele, rectocele and uterine prolapse) happen all at once, within about a month or so around March of 2004. Thank goodness I found Christine’s book and web site!! I started using the posture immediately and I really believe it helped stop the progress of my prolapse. - Lynn
So I finally feel that my life is back on track with the discovery of your wonderful book. I thank God for giving me the help in finding you Christine...and thank you so much!!! - Gail
During the ensuing three years the forum on became increasingly active active with currently almost 3000 registered members. As I strove to answer the flurry of questions posted by forum members week after week, I had to dig deeper into the anatomy and the literature for the answers. I spent long hours in the historical library at the medical school to find the medical wisdom that doctors had before pills and surgery became ascendant. I poured over the journals and consumed still more books (I have probably 1000 books in my personal library).
The result of that effort was a whole new level of understanding of the causes, prevention, and management of pelvic organ prolapse.
As time went on, it became painfully clear to me that Saving the Whole Woman was becoming seriously dated and the information, while sound, had become very incomplete. In early 2006, I embarked on a major rewrite. For a time I thought it would be a companion volume to Saving the Whole Woman, but later realized that much of what I had written before was of real value and only needed clarification, expansion, and full explanation of the current state of knowledge.
As a result, the Second Edition of Saving the Whole Woman includes:
- A completely revised anatomy section that fully explains the amazing design and structure of natural pelvic organ support
- An exposé of new surgical procedures such as mesh slings that are even riskier than the older techniques
- A chapter on pregnancy and prolapse that contains my original theory on the development of postpartum prolapse
- An explanation of why the medical profession has illustrated and defined the orientation of human pelvis incorrectly for almost five hundred years and how this misconception has lead to the development of dangerous and harmful surgical techniques
- How this faulty understanding of female anatomy that persists even in contemporary surgical texts.
The Whole Woman™ Workout
I think the crowning jewel in the book, however, is the Whole Woman™ Workout. The exercises from the first edition have been completely replaced. I have developed a whole new program that is specifically designed to reinforce the Whole Woman™ posture. This workout is intended to restore normal spinal curvature by strengthening the female core and reducing the unnatural hump at the base of the neck – a very common feature in today’s female population.
After extensive study I found that classical dance offers many of the exercises necessary for pelvic organ support and I have drawn on that tradition. The Whole Woman™ Workout is fun and exhilarating. Each set of exercises is choreographed to specific music which I’ve included on a CD with the book. The music is wonderful solo piano by Michael Roberts, well known dance studio accompanist.
Resources for Women With Prolapse
The resources list and glossary have been expanded and updated and I’ve included four appendices as an extra bonus. These are articles on:
- Prolapse self-examination
- Whole Woman™ Firebreathing, a power breathing technique that is amazingly effective at pulling your organs toward where they belong
- A clear description of the anatomy of pelvic contractions and why Kegels aren’t effective. I've included this article as a free download for you. (See the top right of the web page.)
- And a short article on how to assess what kinds of exercise are going to be helpful and harmful for your prolapse.
With 179 technical illustrations and photographs, 327 citations, a comprehensive Table of Figures and index, Saving the Whole Woman will be a useful reference book for you for years to come and will give you the ability to take charge of your health and not feel dependent on your doctor who 1) may not really understand your condition and 2) may not make recommendations that are in may not make recommendations that are in your best interests.
A number of well known and respected authors and experts have reviewed my work.
Take a Look at These Testimonials...
This updated version of Saving the Whole Woman is a breath of fresh air for thousands of women who have been diagnosed with uterine, bladder, or rectal prolapse. In truth, every woman should know the information in this book to help preserve her innate pelvic power.
Christiane Northrup, MD
Author of Mother-Daughter Wisdom,
The Wisdom of Menopause, and
Women’s Bodies, Women’s Wisdom.
Empowering women with accurate knowledge allows them to make informed decisions regarding their healthcare. For those women who are contemplating urogynecological surgery and for those healthcare practitioners who are advising these women, this new edition of Christine Kent’s Saving the Whole Woman is an essential read. The evidence is substantial; restoring optimal posture and muscle function can prevent and reduce most pelvic organ prolapse and urinary incontinence. Surgery should not be your first treatment choice.
Diane Lee
Physiotherapist & Author
The Pelvic Girdle
Christine Ann Kent is on a mission to expose the continuing tragedy of surgical mismanagement of pelvic problems. Her exhaustive and scholarly chronicle of the attempts to improve on female anatomy sends a serious warning: Avoid unnecessary or questionable surgery! Her detailed holistic approach to maintaining and restoring pelvic health reframes perceptions of female anatomy from “faulty” to “wondrous,” and gives women the key to their own pelvic well-being.
Penny Simkin, PT
Childbirth educator and doula, and author
The Birth Partner and The Labor Progress Handbook
After over 36 years as an occupational therapist, I had an acute prolapse including difficulty with elimination. I greatly benefited from the exercises in only one session at the Whole Woman™ Center. The posture is very helpful. Your book is extremely thorough anatomically, practical and honest about a very real problem to untold women. The sensible self-help instruction and lifestyle ideas are extremely helpful.
Jan Harrison, OTR/L,
Occupational Therapist
Monte Vista, CO
Saving the Whole Woman is a scathing account of the way the medical field uses and abuses women’s bodies with regard to surgeries and procedures on the pelvic floor. These medical procedures parallel the mistreatment of women’s bodies in the childbearing year, and in both cases money is often the motivating factor. Christine gives us hope by teaching us about our bodies and how we can prevent or solve problems without medical intervention. Give a copy to every woman you know, old or young.
Jan Tritten
Founder, editor-in-chief and publisher
Midwifery Today Magazine and The Birthkit newsletter
As a former gynecologic surgeon who came to see the error his ways, I passionately read Saving the Whole Woman. Christine's work is medically accurate and will bring hope to millions of women suffering from pelvic organ prolapse and who want to avoid surgery. I hope mothers will share this work with their daughters to help them avoid the kind of childbirth experience that sets them up for problems later in life.
Michel Odent, MD
Author of Primal Health and The Caesarean
Director, Primal Health Research Center
London, UK
As a surgeon who became enlightened to natural health, I recommend avoiding surgery for the treatment of chronic disorders if there are natural approaches that work just as well, if not better. Christine Kent has made a major contribution to women by compiling a comprehensive research-supported natural approach to the common problems of pelvic organ prolapse and urinary incontinence. Any woman ready to take charge of her health needs to read this book!
Christine Horner, MD FACS
Author
Waking the Warrior Goddess:
Dr. Christine Horner’s Program to Protect Against
and Fight Breast Cancer,
Winner of the 2006 IPPY Award for
“Best book in health, medicine, and nutrition."
Saving the Whole Woman is a one of a kind book. It provides natural, helpful solutions for women and takes away the stigma often associated with pelvic floor problems. The original research in this book could be lifesaving.
Peggy O'Mara
Editor and Publisher
Mothering Magazine
The cost of the Second Edition of Saving the Whole Woman and Whole Woman™ Workout CD is $39.95 and is available right now through the Whole Woman™ store. Click here to order.
To encourage you to get everything you need to live a full, productive life with prolapse, you will find Saving the Whole Woman bundled with my other products at special discounts.
An important adjunct to the Whole Woman™ Workout is the Whole Woman™ Workout Baton.
Custom turned for Whole Woman™ from heavy Eastern rock maple in rural Maine, the Baton serves a variety of purposes:
- When doing the floor exercises in the Whole Woman™ Workout, the Baton’s ribbed grip and knob ends insure a stable grip even if your hands are damp
- Keeping the arms extended with head and neck elongated and shoulders pressed down, straightens the unnatural hump at the base of the neck and promotes the Whole Woman™ Posture essential to pelvic organ support.
- The Baton helps you maintain your balance while stretching and exercising without the support of the barre.
As an added bonus, the Baton acts as a wonderful back and foot massager after your workout. If you lie on your back with the center knobs on either side of your spine and push your self backward and forward with your feet, the baton will give you a deep spinal massage. The turned ribs on the shaft of the baton are stimulating for the soles and arches of the feet, improving circulation and massaging muscles and tendons necessary for strong, healthy feet – the foundation of the Whole Woman™ Posture.
The Whole Woman™ Baton will last a lifetime and is the perfect complement to your commitment to being a Whole Woman™.
The Whole Woman™ Baton by Christine Ann Kent is US $34.95 and is available at the Whole Woman™ Center Store. Click here to order.
The sad reality in today's world is that we must take charge of our own health. We cannot rely on the medical system to do what is right for us. Doctors are under more and more financial pressure and it is just too easy to recommend expensive surgery for a condition that can be improved dramatically with simple and easy lifestyle changes.
Sadly also is that research in women's health issues remains inconsistent, incomplete and often slipshod. Way too often, women wind up being the experimental guinea pigs for the surgeons without ever being told all the potentially life-shattering risks to which they are being exposed.
Take charge of your life and health. Get educated. Knowledge is power. Act today so you can enjoy a rich and active tomorrow.
Wishing you well, |
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Whole Woman Inc.
PS. Please come join the community of women who are finding their own way toward total health without surgery. The web site at www.wholewoman.com has lots of information and a warm, loving, supportive community of women.
PPS. If you worry about ordering online with a credit card, click here to read why it's safer to use your credit card online than at your local restaurant. Of course, if you'd rather phone in your order, call us at the Whole Woman Center, (505-243-4010) or better yet, call our publisher, Bridgeworks Inc. who handles our shipping at 505-837-1400. Customer service is usually available between 9:30 AM to 4 PM Mountain Time (GMT -7).
C.K.