Gastrointestinal Issues from Poleing?

Porscha started this discussion · 9/10/2009

Has anyone experienced any GI issues from pole dancing? I've been in horrible pain for the last 4 days, and when I went to the doctor today, they informed me that a loop of my intestine has slipped up under my ribs, near my stomach (and may be pushing on other organs). I'm trying to figure out how this happened, and the only thing I have physically been doing different lately is pole dancing. Could these two be at all related? My thought is that it may be from inverting, but this would be really odd considering I did 9 years of competitive gymnastics and never had this problem. Any thoughts or ideas from people who have had similar issues? Not sure if I should hold out on poleing for a while or not.

11 replies

SissyBuns · 9/10/2009
Did you ask the doctor if he thought it was possible to be caused from poleing. It does seem odd that you would get this type of injury after having been a gymnast for so long...but I guess it could be possible.... 🤔
RoxyPink · 9/10/2009
When I first saw the title of this thread, I initially thought of saschapoles thread "pole farts"...but that so isn't what you'rs is about! lol As far as your issue...I have no clue! Sorry! I wouldn't think that it would be from inverting! I would ask your doc what causes that sort of thing
SissyBuns · 9/10/2009
I know there are certain types of hernias that can be caused by physical activity. I'd have to brush up on my GI stuff, but the doctor would know best. And Roxy when I first read the thread I thought it was gonna be about upset stomachs from spin mode or something LOL. Something like "Everytime I pole on spin mode I get nauseous and have to run to the bathroom right after..." or something like that 😉
azriel · 9/10/2009
Omg i'm so sorry that happened to you.. did the doctor tell you if there's anything you can do about it? Nothing like that has ever happened to me, but i've had 2 incidences of a clump forming under my skin, from pressure from the pole - one on my thigh from when i was first learning the hip-hold, and one recently near my belly-button from doing a very stupid & clumsy cradle spin. However, both seem to go away on their own just fine. So i don't know, it does seem odd that this would happen from inverting. Do you think it's possible that it was caused by the pressure of the pole against your stomach? the pole is hard metal, and i would imagine that if it presses against a sensitive area with too much force that it could cause some injury. I know of a girl that had something similar happen to her, i don't know the details though. She was into martial arts, but she never mentioned any relation between her GI issue and physical activity- as far as i knew, the causes were unknown. Let us know what happens, i really hope you figure it out & get better real soon! 🥂
azzwoo · 9/10/2009
Hi Porscha Really sorry to hear thats happened to you, thats rubbish! 🙁 have you had it x-rayed or scanned to confirm it? They could prob do a small op to move it if it was really bad? For the past couple of years I've had on and off horrible stomach pains (the doc was wondering if I had a twisted bowel but it was never confirmed) but only at night, and always about the same time. It seemed to coincide with periods of stress, but I did notice that if I went on a pole that evening it would be so much worse, esp if I was doing inverts as you have to use your core muscles so much. I think something i'd eaten / stress was affecting it, and then the added pole-ing and muscle contraction of my abs on top of it made the spasms much worse afterwards. When mine happen I take buscopan (a muscle relaxant), co-codamol and omeprazole that the doc has precribed me, and it really helps. Touchwood I haven't had an episode of it for about 3 mths now, but I really sympathise with you and hope it gets sorted really soon. Go back to your doc and demand they do something to sort it!!
yogabeachbabe · 9/10/2009
Do you have any kids? If so, then during pregnancy, the internal organs move all over the place to make room for the baby. If not...I'm sorry, I don't know! I'm so sorry you're in pain.
Porscha · 9/26/2009
Thank you everyone for your help. Ya a day after I posted this I ended up going to the ER room because the pain was so bad, but they weren't very helpful. I really need to get in to see a GI Doc, but I live in LA, and all the good ones are booked out through October. I'm still in a lot of pain, and can hardly eat anything at all. I haven't been able to work out or pole since all this started (I'm dying, because I went from working out 2x a day to nothing!), but I'm happy because I can walk again and the pain has become a bit more manageable. I never told the doctors about my poling, because my dad was there with me in the ER room (He's very conservative, military, and I don't think the idea of his "little girl" poling would fly, at all). But since I have been off the pole for about 17 days now, and am still in pain, I'm pretty sure that the pole-ing has nothing to do with it. But in the meantime, until I can get back on the pole, I'm definitely going to live vicariously through all of you. Keep up the good work and keep posting videos =).
yogabeachbabe · 9/26/2009
Oh Porscha! I can't believe how long you've been in acute pain! I'm so sorry. Is there anything you can do until you can see a GI doc? Maybe acupuncture or something? You poor thing!
Trena · 9/27/2009
Oh my God you poor thing. Thats so long for you to be in pain!!! Did the doctor even give you anything to take to ease the pain? Gosh I hope you can see someone about it soon!
poledanceromance · 9/30/2009
Poor thing! I thought proper core muscle development usually was good for GI health, so I don't even know how poling could do that. Google's no doctor, but if there's a proper name for what you have I'd look it up to see what the standard of care is so you can make sure whatever GI doc you see knows his stuff and asks for the right tests. Usually theres some kind of dr/patient website that will at least say what the most common treatment paths are so you can be informed wherever you go, you don't want someone trying to operate on you if you don't need it....or worse someone who won't operate if you do.
PowerTwirl · 3/26/2011
Hey did u fix this? I feel like this may have happened to me and I'm gonna go to the doctor. Did they diagnose by X-ray??