It's like secret women's business that few women know or want to talk about until it's too late.

Prolapse — it is a deeply personal horror story I'm living with along with many others, and I wish I had known more about it earlier.

I feel like I have lost my freedom to do so many things.

After childbirth, the pressure to get your pre-baby body back is intense.

But the desire and need for strong bodies can be fraught with pitfalls, if you don't realise the damage done from childbirth.

I pride myself on keeping fit, I think my love of pilates, yoga and lots of heavy lifting in the garden have contributed to the problem.

According to the Continence Foundation of Australia (CFA), half of all women over the age of 50 who have given birth have some level of prolapse.

That is when the ligaments are stretched or there is trauma to the muscles which allows the bladder, uterus and or bowel to effectively slip down and either protrude into the vagina or press against the wall of the vagina.

Described as a silent epidemic, the CFA said one in five Australian women required medical help for prolapse in their lifetime.

It is an issue that also impacts many younger women resulting in bladder or bowel incontinence.

It can cause an awful dragging feeling that your innards are falling down, and result in a range of urinary, bowel, and sexual problems.

Three births, forceps and over zealous exercise

I had my first daughter which required a rotation with forceps, 26 years ago.

I went on to have another two children in close succession and my body was never the same.

ABC journalist Andree Withey is a mother of three and has a bladder and bowel prolapse and a partial levator avulsion. ( ABC News: Patrick Williams )

About 20 per cent of women who have a vaginal delivery will suffer a levator avulsion, which is when the pelvic floor muscle is torn from the pubic bone.

But those figures double if you require forceps, and if you're a first time mother over the age of 35, you have the same chance of a levator avulsion even without forceps.

My physiotherapist is giving me lots of help and support as I learn to cope with my diagnoses of both a bladder and bowel prolapse and a partial levator avulsion.

I am an avid walker but if I can't go to the toilet beforehand it can be a disaster.

I plot my walks and much of what I do during the day around where I can find a toilet.

I also fear it will impact my ability to work as a journalist, because out on a job you're not always able to access a toilet.

I've been told not to lift heavy things and that I should use a bag on wheels.

It feels like a kick in the guts because I've already hiked 500 kilometres through Spain and Portugal and I have so many more places I want to go with my backpack.

Finding a toilet in a third world country is hard enough but with incontinence it will be so much more tricky.



It can't be repaired

The shocking thing about a levator avulsion is it can't be repaired at this stage.

Australian researchers recently announced a new experimental treatment, which uses stem cells from a woman's womb combined with nano-biomaterials to repair tissues damaged after childbirth.

The new approach has been tested on sheep but is yet to be clinically trialled.

Professor Hans Peter Dietz from the Sydney Medical School Nepean Hospital is a world leader in the field and is conducting research trials into the issue, with help from six PhD students as well as some overseas collaboration.

The trials have involved about 240 women with avulsion.

"It took 30 years to get hip replacements right and hopefully this won't take that long," he said.

"It is possible but there are still engineering and technical issue to resolve."

While the research has sparked great excitement for the women living with prolapse, the wait continues.

Brisbane mother Amy Dawes eased herself back into exercise after giving birth. But after a run and a yoga session she said something didn't feel right.

"I could feel my bladder where I shouldn't be able to feel it," she said.

Ms Dawes has a similar problem to me, but she has a bilateral or total levator avulsion.

"I was told that I wouldn't be lifting heavy weights anymore. I wouldn't be running and that I should avoid lifting my 16-month-old daughter. I was devastated," she said.

Corrine is trying to avoid a prolapse after being diagnosed with a levator avulsion. ( ABC News: Andree Withey )

Brisbane cafe owner Corrine is trying to avoid a prolapse after being diagnosed with a levator avulsion after giving birth to two babies each weighing 4.3 kilograms.

"I used to do a lot of dead lifts and squats to keep fit but I now avoid those sort of things so I now do a lot of water aerobics, pilates, yoga and walking," she said.

"Work is now tricky lifting crates of milk and boxes of coffee around the store ... and it's become all about bracing.

"I have girlfriends who have had babies and they have the same thing. It's almost par for the course. One friend is due to have repair surgery and another has a pessary."

While Ms Dawes is waiting for a breakthrough, she has co-founded the Australasian Birth Trauma Association offering emotional and practical support to women and their partners who have been traumatised by a difficult birth experience.

Exercises to be wary of if you have pelvic issues

Ms Croft said it was about encouraging women to keep exercising while not compromising their pelvic floor.

Brisbane women's health physiotherapist Sue Croft says women need to be conscious of their pelvic floor. ( ABC News: Andree Withey )

"If you go and do just any old thing you are at risk of making prolapse or incontinence worse," she said.

"It's important — particularly after childbirth — to get your pelvic floor assessed so you can learn what damage if any has been done and what exercises are suitable."

Guidelines if you have pelvic floor dysfunction (keeping in mind bodies will respond differently):

Get your pelvic floor assessed so you can do as many exercises as possible

Get your pelvic floor assessed so you can do as many exercises as possible Avoid sit ups, double leg lifts or full planks which put significant pressure on your pelvic floor

Avoid sit ups, double leg lifts or full planks which put significant pressure on your pelvic floor Avoid certain weight machines at gym

Avoid certain weight machines at gym Assess individual exercises in pilates, yoga and group fitness classes to suit your individual case.

Mesh implant disaster

Pessaries are a silicone device inserted into the vagina to help provide structure and support while living with a prolapse.

They are now the go-to device to help women with prolapse after vaginal mesh implants were banned in Australia.

The mesh implants left hundreds of women with chronic, debilitating pain and recurring infections.

A class action against mesh manufacturer Johnson and Johnson involving more than 700 women is underway, with legal representatives for the women claiming the pharmaceutical giant did not investigate proper clinical trials on the possible complications of the mesh.



The Continence Foundation of Australia will hold its fifth state conference in Brisbane on March 9 with the diagnoses of Levator Avulsion being top on the agenda.