How to Find Your Uterus & Ovaries
Ever wonder where your uterus & ovaries are? Knowing where your uterus and ovaries are is vital before doing abdominal massage on yourself, or before allowing a massage therapist to “massage your psoas”.
Knowing where your uterus and ovaries are also helps you connect to them on an energetic level. Our bodies know. We just have to slow down and listen to what it is saying.
In the following video, I answer the question, How to find my uterus and ovaries.
What I didn’t mention in the video was how deep within the belly the uterus is. The fundus (top of the uterus) is about 40% deep into the pelvis from the front. To get to the level of the uterus, you have to sink through several layers of the belly:
- skin
- superficial fascia (fatty layer)
- membrane layer
- deep fascia layer
- muscle
- transversalis fascia
- parietal peritoneum
You most likely won’t feel the uterus when it’s in the proper position unless it’s enlarged or when large fibroids are present. You may feel it when the uterus is way off to one side or extremely anteverted (tipped forward). The top part of the uterus (the fundus) is what you will feel if you feel anything, which feels kind of like a water balloon. Don’t worry about whether you can feel it or not; the important thing is that you can visualize it. Also, you won’t feel it when it’s retroverted (tipped back). However, you may be able to tell by the symptoms of back pain and thinner stools right before your period.
In the Womb Care course, I teach you self-abdominal massage for uterine care. The self-care massage improves blood, lymph, and energy flow throughout the pelvis and pelvic organs and gently guides the uterus to an optimal position. I also teach specific exercises for retroverted and prolapsed wombs as well as pelvic alignment, herbal remedies, and other supportive tools. The class includes over 8 hours of video lessons broken down into short, digestible clips and 10 ebooks!
Below you’ll find several images and a video of uteri to give you a better picture of where the uterus is and what it looks like. Keep in mind that an average size of a uterus (during reproductive years) is about 4 oz. when not menstruating and 3″ high, 2″ wide, 1″ thick. The uterus decreases in size slightly after menopause due to hormonal expression. The ovaries also recede posterior toward the rectouterine pouch (between the back wall of the uterus and the rectum).
Clay Womb Models. The uterus can vary in size depending on whether you have had babies, or are postmenopausal. The volume of a uterus can also increase right before and during your period. Fibroids and adenomyosis can also increase the size of the uterus.
From the image below, you can see that the ovary lies in front of the psoas major muscle. This is one reason why I never allow a massage therapist to “massage my psoas”.
And finally, this is what a uterus looks like while playing Astroids…
Learn more about your uterus and how to do uterine self-massage in the online Womb Care course. You will also learn how to find and connect with your uterus on an energetic level.
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Author: Barbara Horsley has more than 26 years of experience as a licensed massage therapist. She specializes in abdominal massage and Visceral Manipulation™ and is an NCBTMB-approved educator. In addition to being certified in abdominal massage, she also studied biomechanics and restorative exercise. She is also a Certified Women’s Herbal Educator and a graduate of the IWHI Perimenopause & Menopause Certificate Program.