A rectocele is a type of pelvic organ prolapse that affects women exclusively, and is characterised by the rectum herniating into the vaginal cavity. Although the feeling of pelvic heaviness can seem disabling in everyday life, surgery is not the only option. It is entirely possible to relieve your symptoms effectively with targeted exercises to do at home.
Here are the 3 key points we’ll cover in this article:
- Understand the role of the pelvic floor: Discover the anatomy of the pelvic floor and the direct consequences of weakness in everyday life.
- Do the right exercises: Master the Kegel method and learn how to engage your deep abdominal muscles to stop excessive pressure.
- Take action: Build a regular training routine and rely on biofeedback devices such as the Emy Trainer Emy Trainer.
Understanding the importance of the pelvic floor and its role in everyday life
The anatomy of the pelvic floor
First of all, what is the pelvic floor ? Also called the pelvic floor, it is a kind of hammock made up of intertwined ligaments and muscle layers. The three muscle layers form the superficial pelvic floor, the middle pelvic floor and the deep pelvic floor.
Located in the pelvis, it extends from the pubic bone to the tailbone and reaches both ischial bones across its width. It supports all of a woman’s pelvic organs: the bladder, uterus and rectum.
💡 Fun fact: although men do not have a uterus, they still have a pelvic floor! However, the load it supports is less significant than in women.
Men can also experience pelvic floor disorders, linked to prostate hypertrophy (an increase in prostate volume).
The impact of the pelvic floor on everyday life
The pelvic floor is therefore essential for keeping the pelvic organs in place by maintaining constant tension. It also plays an important role in continence, as the urethra and anus pass through it. By controlling sphincter opening, it affects urination and bowel movements.
Finally, a fit pelvic floor promotes better vaginal tone, and therefore more pleasure during sex sex life.
🎁 Info: Ladies, if you’re lucky enough to reach orgasm, know that your pelvic floor is partly responsible! The sensations during penetration are significantly amplified by a strong pelvic floor 👍🏻
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The consequences of a damaged pelvic floor
When they are overused, the pelvic floor muscles stretch and resist less well against the weight of the structures they support. Their weakening can therefore lead to the appearance of issues that are not serious, but that can have a major impact on everyday life…
Among these disabling issues, the most common are:
- urine leakage;
- difficulty holding in gas;
- anal incontinence;
- pelvic heaviness;
- pain during sex;
- pelvic organ prolapse (rectocele or cystocele);
- etc.
It is therefore essential to strengthen your pelvic floor through pelvic floor training. Kegel exercises are often cited as the benchmark.
Developed by Dr Arnold Kegel, an American gynaecologist, in the 1940s, they involve contracting and then relaxing the pelvic floor to strengthen it. They are strongly recommended during pregnancy and postpartum.
🫰🏻 Expectant mums: if you deliver by caesarean section, pelvic floor training is not optional! In the months leading up to birth, the baby, the amniotic fluid and the uterus place significant pressure on the pelvic floor. Even without a vaginal birth, your pelvic floor may have been strained during this period.
Strengthen your pelvic floor with Kegel exercises to help relieve a rectocele
Breathing, an ally of the pelvic floor
To begin with, and so you can properly feel the pelvic floor contraction, it’s best to do the exercises lying down. Get comfortable on your back, somewhere quiet, on a yoga mat for example. Your legs should be bent so that your back is flat and well stretched, without arching. Your feet should be hip-width apart. Become aware of your breathing, breathe in through your nose and out through your mouth.
🧘🏻♀️ Tip: focus on the air going in and out, and make deep movements with your eyes closed.
The quick contraction: training the pelvic floor while breathing
Once you are aware of your breathing and fully relaxed, it’s time to start sensing your pelvic floor:
- Start by emptying your lungs, then take a deep breath in through your nose.
- As soon as your ribcage expands, gently breathe out through your mouth while contracting the muscles, as if you were holding in a strong urge to go. The entire pelvic floor should be engaged, including the front, because rectocele should not make you neglect the other pelvic structures.
- Relax before you breathe in, then contract again on the next exhale.
- Do the exercise for 5 breaths, then rest for 5 seconds before starting again.
- Repeat this exercise 3 times in a row, contracting your pelvic floor as strongly as possible, to the best of your ability.
🙅🏻♀️ Warning: do not contract your glutes, inner thighs or superficial abdominal muscles to help you contract your pelvic floor. To begin with, only your pelvic floor should be engaged during these exercises.
Pelvic floor bracing: holding a moderate contraction
Still lying down with your legs bent, the next exercise involves a moderate but sustained pelvic floor contraction. As with the previous exercise, as you exhale, brace your pelvic floor to 60% and hold the contraction for 6 seconds. Then relax your pelvic floor for 12 seconds: the work phase is half the rest time. Do this exercise 3 times in a row, while clearly visualising your pelvic floor lifting towards your abdomen.
🧠 Memory aid: think of multiples of 6 to remember this exercise (6 seconds, 60%, 12 seconds)!
With regular training, you’ll be able to feel it better and maintain a medium level of contraction. Use this exercise to protect your pelvic floor from the strain of everyday activities: getting up, walking or lifting something heavy.
It’s essential to think about protecting your pelvic floor from movements that can create excessive pressure, so you don’t worsen genital prolapse. And to relieve the symptoms of a rectocele, these contraction exercises are very easy to use in everyday life.
The maximum contraction: testing pelvic floor strength
The final exercise works your pelvic floor strength and endurance. After becoming aware of your breathing, breathe out through your mouth and contract your pelvic floor as strongly as possible. Your breathing should stay natural—don’t force your breath—the exercise is to be done for a full minute!
The pelvic floor contraction should remain maximal right to the very end. If you feel the muscles start to give way, increase the pelvic floor tension again. This exercise should not be performed several times in a row. Take at least one minute to recover, with the pelvic floor fully relaxed.
🌬 Tip: count the seconds out loud to avoid breath-holding, the pelvic floor’s sworn enemy! The build-up of air in the lungs could create abdominal pressure, which is harmful to pelvic floor training.
To optimise your chances of relieving a rectocele, these exercises should be done every day, in different positions. Consistency is the key to success! Build a routine: while breastfeeding, at bedtime, in the car, in the shower, in front of the TV, etc.
🏆 Train every day and do these three exercises in different positions: sitting, standing and lying down. You’ll become a pelvic floor training expert and you’ll quickly see progress!
Using your abs to protect your pelvic floor
Understanding the synergy between the transverse abdominal muscle and the pelvic floor
During the previous exercises, you may have noticed that when you contract your pelvic floor, your abs also engage. This is because the deepest abdominal muscle, the transverse muscle, works in synergy with the pelvic floor muscles.
It’s essential to understand that the pelvic floor and abs work together so you can carry out proper pelvic floor training. In fact, the transverse muscle complements the pelvic floor for several reasons:
- Like an abdominal corset, it keeps the organs in place, while the pelvic floor supports them at the pelvic level.
- It plays a role in breathing, which, remember, is the pelvic floor’s ally!
- Because of its anatomy, similar to an abdominal belt, it can increase intra-abdominal pressure. This mechanism is essential for bowel movements and urination, and supports the pelvic floor’s action on the sphincters.
- Its contraction comes into play when you cough, sneeze, laugh or even vomit, all movements that also put the pelvic floor under strain.
The following exercises help you contract the pelvic floor and transverse muscle in synergy.
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Do simple exercises to feel the contraction of the deep abs
Engaging the pelvic floor and hypopressive transverse contraction
Lie on your back, bend your legs and press your shoulder blades flat against the floor. Staying in this position, stretch your back well, arms alongside your body, and lengthen through your body without arching your back.
Breathe naturally by becoming aware of the movement of your abdomen, feeling your ribs expand as you inhale. Exhale through your mouth while gently engaging your pelvic floor at 30%, then draw your belly in from the pubic bone to the navel, growing taller to lengthen your spine.
This exercise helps create a decrease in abdominal cavity pressure, which lifts the pelvic floor and helps relieve it. Repeat 8 to 10 movements, without contracting your glutes.
Low transverse activation
In the same position as for the previous exercise, place a cushion or a small ball between your knees.
With each exhale, engage your pelvic floor (30%), hollow your belly, then squeeze the cushion between your knees, growing taller as you do it. You should feel a stronger contraction below your navel, in the lower part of the transverse abdominis muscle. Repeat this exercise 8 to 10 times.
High transverse activation
Keeping the same position as in the first exercise, now take an elastic band. Place it at elbow level, with your arms stretched up toward the sky, at 90° to the floor.
With each exhale, engage your pelvic floor (30%), draw in your belly, then open your elbows, always growing taller. This time, you will feel the transverse abdominis contracting under the ribs, in the upper part of the transverse abdominis muscle. Repeat this exercise 8 to 10 times.
Glute bridge exercise
The final movement starts from the same position as the first exercise, without using any equipment. As you exhale, engage your pelvic floor (30%), draw in your belly, then lift your pelvis off the floor.
To do it correctly, your back should stay straight and the contraction of your pelvic floor and transverse abdominis should be maintained. Still exhaling, slowly lower your back to the floor, vertebra by vertebra, all the way to your pelvis. Repeat this exercise 8 to 10 times.
How to use your abs properly to protect your pelvic floor from excessive pressure
Understanding how the transverse abdominis works is essential to protect your pelvic floor. If your abs are not properly engaged, all the abdominal pressure will bear down on your pelvic floor, which can weaken it over time. It’s essential to use your core properly to direct pressure upward rather than toward the pelvic floor.
Hypopressive exercise is therefore key: it’s something you put into practice every day! Every movement in daily life - coughing, sneezing, lifting heavy objects, exercising, and so on - can put strain on your pelvic floor.
During pelvic floor training, remember to practise sports gentle, which do not put too much strain on your pelvic floor: cycling, swimming, yoga, Pilates, for example.
By mastering the synergy between the pelvic floor and hypopressive abs, you’ll be able to relieve your rectocele more easily.
❌ Avoid high-impact and/or high-pressure sports such as running, CrossFit, jump rope, and trampolining.
Thinking about a medical device to train your pelvic floor if you have a rectocele
Emy, the interactive smart pelvic floor trainer to use at home
To improve your chances of relieving a rectocele, regular exercise can be combined with the use of a smart pelvic floor trainer, such as Emy.
This medical device is revolutionary: it lets you train your pelvic floor at home, without the help of a healthcare professional, thanks to biofeedback. This is used by specialists because it gives patients instant feedback on a physiological activity, such as muscle function.
This recent technology, also known as biofeedback, gives you the chance to measure your pelvic floor contractions.
Through a mobile app, you can see your progress in real time, thanks to a variety of medical games. All these fun exercises are designed to help relieve a rectocele, as regular user Ghislaine explains.
Most importantly, the effectiveness of this medical device has been clinically proven. With the Emy trainer, pelvic floor training becomes fun, encouraging users to practise the suggested exercises regularly.
📱 The app will even send notifications to your smartphone so you don’t forget your training session!
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Pelvic floor electrostimulation devices to strengthen your pelvic floor
Sometimes you need to see a healthcare professional — a midwife or a specialised physiotherapist — to relieve a rectocele. Using a vaginal trainer connected to a pelvic floor electrostimulation device is then recommended to speed up the recovery of the pelvic floor.
By stimulating the nerves in the pelvic floor muscles with small painless electrical impulses, the pelvic floor is gradually toned. Specific preset programmes can help relieve different symptoms (incontinence, pain, prolapse, etc.).
🩺 Good to know: Some devices are even reimbursed by the French National Health Insurance! To be eligible, they need to meet a few criteria and comply with very specific standards.
Other accessories that help you care for your pelvic floor
Other solutions are available to help relieve a rectocele or strengthen a weakened pelvic floor. Vaginal cones and Geisha balls can be used alongside in-clinic training sessions.
Often wrongly seen as just sex toys, Geisha balls are a major ally for pelvic floor strengthening. They are sometimes recommended by specialists to optimise rehabilitation exercises.
Many women turn to these effective alternatives to regain better sensations during sex in the case of genital prolapse.
Vaginal cones or weights help you test the strength and endurance of the pelvic floor muscles using different levels of resistance.
They tone the pelvic floor in just a few minutes, provided you use them regularly. Like Geisha balls, they gradually retrain the pelvic floor. Their vaginal position, slightly lower than Geisha balls, puts more strain on the superficial pelvic floor muscles.
You now know that relieving a rectocele by doing regular at-home exercises is entirely possible. Be diligent and consistent in your practice, and you’ll quickly see encouraging results. The symptoms of pelvic organ prolapse you may feel every day will gradually start to disappear.
What you need to remember to relieve your pelvic floor:
- Become aware of anatomy: Identifying muscle weaknesses and adopting the right daily habits is the first step to help limit prolapse.
- Actively strengthening your muscles: Combining daily pelvic floor engagement (Kegel) with transverse abdominis training helps reduce pelvic heaviness in the long term.
- Sustaining your results: Equipping yourself with a suitable medical device remains the ideal solution for validating your contractions and staying motivated over time with Emy Trainer.
Sources:
French National Authority for Health, Haute Autorité de Santé (HAS), May 2026, institutional portal - link
Futura: the media outlet that decodes science and technology, Futura-Sciences, May 2026, news portal -link
