Why Some Medical Providers Struggle To Locate Your Uterus

This is a pretty big implication but I would daresay that I am sure that if you were to ask your medical provider, a majority of them would not be able to accurately locate where the uterus is in your pelvis.

Pelvic Anatomy Gaps in Medical Education

I once worked at a local hospital and would sometimes have medical students who were going through their rotations, through the OB/GYN department, come and shadow me for the day while I worked with some of my pelvic patients.

I had one student who afterward wanted ME to help show her where the uterus is located and how to palpate it. I was shocked because I expected that medical students would be at the forefront of medicine since they are the new up-and-comers.

So when she asked me to help with locating her uterus, I gladly assisted and told her some of the methods that I use to feel the uterus.

Types of Uterus Positions

Of course, everyone is not the same and there are a myriad of positions that the uterus can end up at.

Uterine positions, image by inviTRA

It can be anteverted, which is the standard or common position, where the uterus is tipped forward and sitting right above the bladder.

But sometimes, the uterus can also be too far forward and press down on the bladder, which can be a big cause of bladder issues and urinary leakage.

The uterus can also tip backward, what would be called retroverted. This position can cause the uterus to put pressure on the rectum and make it difficult to have a regular bowel movement leading to constipation issues due to an external blockage.

Then the uterus can be tipped to the side, either the right or the left. Not only can a bending of the uterus take place, but even a rotation or a torsion can also be present as well.

Either of those positions can compress and put pressure on very sensitive structures such as nerves that run through the pelvis, arteries, or veins as well as the lymphatic system.

Challenges in Uterus Palpation

Now all of these different positions can make it very challenging to palpate or feel the positions of the uterus, especially if it is not in the classical position that is seen normally in anatomy books. We all have our traumas, our scars, and our injuries that over time will have some level of impact on our bodies. However, a trained medical professional should be skilled in palpation skills to be able to feel someone’s uterus and to also determine if their uterus is positioned differently. I believe that these were skills that midwives and others who worked on healing the body were well versed in but a lot of those skills have been lost and we are dependent on imaging to help us find this organ.

I recently attended a wonderful training in Houston, TX, and was surrounded by midwives and RNs during this training. I had the opportunity to do some bodywork with one of the participants after one day of training since she had complained of chronic constipation.

She has a long history, but long story, when palpating her uterus it was tipped to the left and was potentially impacting the movement of stool in her colon. She also had a 14-year-old c-section scar that after a little bit of scar massage work in that area, micro-tears were starting to form. The scar was still very vulnerable and was also very taut as it was not responding well to touch along the scar path.

Afterward, I had one of the midwives who was staying in our Airbnb who was observing my work ask how I was able to touch the uterus and verify that I was on it. She said that she has only been able to feel a uterus when it is at seven weeks gestation, that the uterus is so deep into the pelvic bowl that it can be hard to feel, and that the fundus of the uterus tends to just go towards the back.

I explained to her my approach for palpating the uterus and when there is an understanding of anatomy, you can see where the uterus would attach to or even palpate the ligaments and feel for the movement of the uterus there.

So, even a practiced healthcare professional may not have clarity on how to find and palpate the uterus.

Why Understanding Your Pelvic Anatomy is Essential For Your Health

Again, this post is not to condemn or put down, it is to showcase that the people whom you may entrust with the health of your body may not always have a good understanding or knowledge base around something like the location and feel for one of your organs.

If it is something that they are not doing regularly, how would you expect them to be proficient at it and thus provide you with the info you need to make an informed choice?

In the same way that I want to encourage all who have a uterus to be intimately familiar with their body, the same will go for being intimately familiar with your uterus and touching it, feeling it, and noticing how it moves or doesn’t move.

If exploring the uterus feels like unfamiliar territory it may help to start with the house or container for the uterus as it will make it easier to establish a good relationship when we know where we are starting from. You can check out this post which discusses carving out the pelvis as one way to connect. You can also check out this newsletter where I discuss a simple way of tending to your own uterus.

Be on the lookout for my next post which will be on scars and how scars can play a role in limiting the mobility of the uterus, but starting with what you feel is the first step.