Abdominal exercises with an ileostomy

Hi,

Have had ileo for 4 years and have done a lot of travel, dance, walking, and swimming. Now going to PT for a balance and gait issue.

The PT has me doing pelvic tilts and very MINOR sit-ups (as in lying on my back with knees bent pelvic tilt, then raise my head and shoulders up off the mat for a few seconds) NOT a big deal. BUT my abdomen is sooooo sore. My ileo surgeon says it is fine to do this.

BUT last night I had a really deep what felt like intestinal pain and some pain behind the stoma until some solid food came out while I was in bed lying on that side. Luckily things moved through.

And have been fine stoma wise all the rest of the time.

My question, is it safe for someone with a stoma to be doing these very simple abdominal exercises for core strength for balance and gait issues, or is it best to really limit any action on the abs. After all having a stoma is like having a "made hernia" and people with hernia's don't go around doing abdominal strengthening exercises.

Let me know your take on this. Protecting my stoma. Rosemary

Its ok to do some crunches to shorten rectus abdominus muscles up the front of the body, but there are other exercises for flattening and strengthening that are better and maybe safer for the average ostomate.

There are lots of PT I have met and asked questions about ostomies and they pretty much know nothing in regards to our condition. They learn basic anatomy stuff but not specific enough for my liking.

Have tried to study it a lot. Ask myself the same questions Rosemary.

Have thought about writing a small educational book on the subject with a couple Dr. friends. Will see where that one goes. SO much to do, so little time.

I agree with tri girl 100%.. there is nothing out there even on the web and PT's and even surgeons have little understanding. It's very misleading! Physios have the best knowledge but you need to find a good one. Perhaps we should get together, Trigirl, and write an international best seller! ;-)

There are better exercises than 'sit ups' and I try to avoid them. BUT you do need to some core stability work - that is different from crunches or sit ups and involves strengthening the deep transverse abdominals (TVA). Also exercises for your glutes, low back, hip flexors and shoulder girdle. There are exercises where you lie on your back, knees bent and suck in your deep abdominal muscles - pulling navel to spine - whilst relaxing the surface muscles. Hold for 5 seconds then release - repeat 5-10 times. You can then develop that to lifting a heel etc. But it's ideal if your PT or physio can supervise to check you're doing it right. Try not to be too worried about causing a hernia though - you're more likely to get one if your core and TVA is weak.

If you email me I can send you a sheet of exercises I've been doing which might help... [email protected]

Sarah