Exercise after Hysterectomy – Simple Exercises to Avoid Side Effects

Exercise after hysterectomy can help avoid and overcome hysterectomy side effects.

This exercise video teaches women some safe exercises to promote hysterectomy recovery and minimise the risk of post operative side effects.

Please scroll down for ‘Exercise After Hysterectomy’ video

Who is ‘Exercise After Hysterectomy’ Suited to?

This short information video is for women seeking information on therapeutic exercise either before or  following vaginal or abdominal hysterectomy. The exercises and techniques demonstrated include those that may be be taught before or during hospital stay.

Note:  Exercise after hysterectomy should only be undertaken with approval form your medical specialist or health professional advice. This post operative hysterectomy exercise information is not intended as medical advice, rather it is for the information of women seeking to understand those types of exercises and techniques that can assist with recovery.

Video duration: 5 minutes

For expert guidelines safe whole body fitness and strength exercise after hysterectomy and refer to Inside Out – the essential women’s guide to pelvic support by Michelle Kenway and Dr Judith Goh (Urogynaecologist)

Note: to ensure smooth viewing of the video, it is recommended that you press on this play arrow and then when the video starts loading you press the ‘pause’ button until you can see that the entire video has loaded. This will help avoid the video stopping to load while you watch.

‘Exercise After Hysterectomy’ Overview

The exercises demonstrated in this short video include:

• Deep breathing exercises – deep breathing exercises are frequently encouraged post operatively to minimise the risk of chest problems after hysterectomy surgery. The technique taught in this video is diaphragmatic breathing, a technique widely used to improve chest ventilation post operatively.
• Circulation exercises – to minimise the risk of DVT (deep venous thrombosis) or blood clots in the deep veins of the calf muscles. With inactivity and bed rest post operatively, the risk of DVT can be increased, particularly after abdominal hysterctomy surgery
• Exercise to minimise discomfort when moving in bed – after hysterectomy surgery it can be difficult to know how to move without placing downward pressure on the internal wound. The movement technique demonstrated in this video is aimed reducing post operative discomfort movement and minimising downward pressure on the wound by using the buttocks rather than the abdominal muscles to move.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR, Michelle Kenway

Michelle Kenway is a Pelvic Floor Physiotherapist and author of Inside Out – the Essential Women’s Guide to Pelvic Support, along with Dr Judith Goh Urogynaecologist. The Inside Out exercise DVD and book show women how to strengthen the pelvic floor and exercise effectively with pelvic floor safe exercises.