Stirrups (not the horse kind)

[slemslempike]

When you go for a smear test (or similar), are there stirrups?

I've usually heard Americans talking about stirrups for such incidents, while I'm under the impression that I've only heard British women refer to them for ante-natal use. When I go, I just have to do that frogs' legs thing (which is awkward if the table is against the wall on one side).

I was watching Jo Brand on Live at the Apollo, and she talked about stirrups as if they would of course be used for a smear. Have I just always had lo-tech medical care? I don't feel like I have had a particularly sheltered outlook, at least four medical professionals have investigated my nethers.

Comments

[chiasmata]

Nope, no stirrups that I've ever seen.

[slemslempike.livejournal.com]

My very selective sample size confirms my ideas!

[huskyteer.livejournal.com]

Good God no. If I walked into an examining room and saw stirrups I'd flee.

[slemslempike.livejournal.com]

I would be intruiged, I think. But not a little surprised.

[yiskah.livejournal.com]

I've never had stirrups for anything routine in a GP's office. I think I've encountered them twice, both in private gynaecologists' offices, once in the UK and once in Australia.

[slemslempike.livejournal.com]

Ah - and in America the vast majority of gyn examinations would of course be private offices, so perhaps that's the difference?

[alltheleaves.livejournal.com]

I've never had stirrups for anything gynaecological and I go to a good hospital with very up-to-date medical care. I think it's a progressive thing not to have them as they seem very backward to me. I know in the US, some places still use stirrups for a woman to put her feet in to during the labouring process which is very different to the "get in the position that feels most comfortable and we'll adapt to what suits" attitude that has mostly been adopted over here (based on various friends' experiences). And even if they don't have that attitude here, there are still no stirrups.

[slemslempike.livejournal.com]

I think I would much prefer not to have stirrups, even if Rachel in Friends did say that they were very comfortable. I've only heard a very few British women mention stirrups at all, so maybe this was not very recently that they used them. I was very surprised that Jo Brand talked about them.

[snowballjane.livejournal.com]

Three different GP surgeries, all NHS, one of which was an ultra-up-to-date teaching centre linked to UCLH for doctors to learn to be GPs. No stirrups anywhere.

[slemslempike.livejournal.com]

I am curious now to see if I've got the wrong impression about American gyn care, and if it's all a huge media construct.

[ankaret.livejournal.com]

I've never encountered stirrups. Every time I've had a smear test, it's just been 'lie back on this examining table' which is, as you say, awkward if the damn thing is up against a wall which it almost always is.

The last time I went the nurse helpfully said 'Oh, you don't have any trouble opening your legs' when I frog-posed, and then went scarlet.

[slemslempike.livejournal.com]

Oh, that's great! I got complimented on my relaxed vagina once.

I suppose it'd be even more awkward to be up against a wall if there were stirrups.

[carmine-rose.livejournal.com]

I've never had stirrups, and I've been examined both here in the UK, and in Australia. Several time in both (smears here, and a case of cystitis that just wouldn't go - I ended up being referred to Sydney Hospital's genito-urinary clinic, and still no stirrups.)

[slemslempike.livejournal.com]

I've only had smears, though there were no stirrups when I got pierced either!

[lsugaralmond.livejournal.com]

I've never had stirrups either - just the frog pose. I wouldn't mind stirrups though, since I find holding the frog pose for any length of time to be quite hard work.

[slemslempike.livejournal.com]

Now I need people who have used the stirrups to come and tell us if it is more comfortable. It seems like it might be uncomfortable in a different way, but less strain on the inner thighs.

[whatho.livejournal.com]

Nein. Never come across it. Don't know if it's different in a well-woman clinic or hospital to how it is in a GP's surgery though.

[slemslempike.livejournal.com]

It does seem mostly to be a US thing. My inadequately researched extrapolations are correct!

[coughingbear]

No stirrups for me either, and I've had smear tests in several different surgeries. But I have never been complimented on my cervix or anything :( - in fact, last time it really hurt, which I had not known before, and I let out a little squeak, and the nurse said it was just my fault for getting older. (OK, she didn't actually say it was my fault, but it was there in the tone of her voice.)

[slemslempike.livejournal.com]

I don't have much pain, just ick at the feeling of the scrape of the cotton wool but. Ugh.

[sollersuk.livejournal.com]

Never any stirrups, not for smear tests nor having the "coil" changed nor for two childbirth events - the second was very sensibly managed, with me more or less sitting up instead of flat on my back

[slemslempike.livejournal.com]

That does sound much more sensible than immobile, much as I like anything that involves lying down.

[notmarcie.livejournal.com]

I had stirrups once, back in about 1996 when I thought I would be responsible and have a vagina MOT when I started being sexually active.

Since then I've had various nether region examinations for various reasons and they haven't been used since. And every single one of them has used the term frogs legs. None of my GPs examination couches have them either fixed or the little swinging out ones. neither did my last GP either.

[notmarcie.livejournal.com]

Oh, for a comfortableness factor, definitely no stirrups. I felt a lot more exposed with my feet in them and more vunerable.
Of course the fact it was my first gynae type thing might have made stirrups feel more uncomfortable, but I felt a lot more exposed. I find non-stirrups makes it feel less off-puttingly clinical.

[zoje-george.livejournal.com]

Hmmm. I'd say that until about five years ago, every visit to the GYN included stirrups and one's bottom hanging perilously off the edge of the table. Then at some point the far less perilous, far more comfortable knee stirrups began appearing in the GYN's office.

[anglaisepaon.livejournal.com]

Dude, I should clarify what I said above...I was talking about the knee stirrups that zoje_george mentioned. I can't imagine the feet stirrups are anything but massively uncomfortable and awkward.

[antisoppist.livejournal.com]

I think I had stirrups when being stitched after childbirth (three times) but I was so high on gas and air (with my first birth the bastards gave me gas and air for the stitching but not for the actual birth) and post-childbirth hormones that I didn't really notice or care.

And well, I would like them to be able to see what they're doing at that point, especially the nurse who said "I'm just going to ask for a seccond opinion" which turned out to be "which side do you think this bit goes?" (yes the first labour was horrific and yes I am still bitter)

I was never told to use stirrups during labour.

For smears and IUS fitting it's been the frog thing.

[cangetmad.livejournal.com]

I've had two incidents of post-childbirth stitching, one in hospital with stirrups, one at home, unsurprisingly with no stirrups. I preferred the second. The idea that I wasn't physically capable of closing my legs or getting off the bed even if I'd wanted to was pretty horrifying. OTOH, I believe it was necessary the first time for the same sort of reasons mentioned above - I believe the phrase used was "ooh, look at this! I'll just get my supervisor."

[the-local-echo.livejournal.com]

There is a whole article about this here:

http://nhsblogdoc.blogspot.com/2006/07/pelvic-examinations-are-you-sitting.html

Conclusion:
“Women feel less vulnerable and experience less discomfort when the examination is carried out without stirrups.”

American doctors use stirrups routinely and all doctors (not just Americans!) can be pretty set in their ways. Perhaps it is time for a change.

A woman in the UK may well get through the whole of her gynaecological and obstetric life without seeing a pair of examination stirrups.

For once, we may have got it right.

[slemslempike.livejournal.com]

That's a really interesting article - thanks for the link!

Now my question has mostly changed to "why does Jo Brand think women in the UK routinely use stirrups?"

[nineveh-uk.livejournal.com]

Will someone please educate me as to what you mean by frogs legs in this context!

[yiskah.livejournal.com]

Imagine you're lying on your back with your knees bent - now flop each leg outwards so that your legs form a diamond shape, if you see what I mean? That's what I mean by frogs' legs, anyway!

[leedy.livejournal.com]

Yet another person who has never been in stirrups!

[slemslempike.livejournal.com]

I am now thinking that I would like to have them just once to see the difference. But this is unlikely, although stranger requests have come through OKCupid.

[medland.livejournal.com]

I've never had stirrups either.

[heyiya.livejournal.com]

Had them in the US, never in the UK. I didn't really know what to do with them and they freaked me out.

[fanofall.livejournal.com]

I think I may be the only Yank to respond so far -- I have never not had feet stirrups (I've never even seen knee stirrups), although at my very most recent examination, which also happened to be my post-surgery examination, the stirrups were there but we did not use them. Curious. My GYN is also young and pretty progressive -- I wonder if she read that article.

[slemslempike.livejournal.com]

There are a couple of Americans upthread, but I think it all collapsed! Did you have a preference for stirrups/no stirrups?