What is Pelvic Floor Physical Therapy?
Pelvic floor physical therapy focuses on the muscles, tissues and nerves of the pelvic floor that are responsible for bowel, bladder and sexual function. A pelvic floor physical therapist is specially trained to evaluate those muscles, tissues and nerves both internally and externally. They have taken advanced post-graduate continuing education in order to work in this specialty.
What can pelvic floor therapy help with?
- Diastasis Recti
- Improve Core Strength
- Pregnancy
- Postpartum
- Prolapse
- Pelvic Pain
- Urinary Urgency/Frequency
- Incontinence
- Pain During/After Intercourse
- Chronic Constipation/Straining
- Fertility
- Low Back Pain
- Hip Pain
- Tailbone Pain
What to expect during an appointment?
Time is necessary to effectively evaluate, assess and treat the pelvic floor muscles and associated tissues. The pelvic floor involves sensitive and personal body systems – bowel, bladder and sexual health. We want to ensure that you as a patient have the time to feel comfortable with this treatment that may seem unusual at first. We never want this treatment to feel rushed. Therefore, hour long appointments, that are one-on-one for their entirety, ensures that both the patient and the PT can make the most of their time together and make the most lasting changes.
The pelvic floor being so intricately connected to these major and sensitive functions of our body also means that pelvic floor dysfunction is often long standing and multifactorial – there are a lot of layers to peel back. This means that most people seen with pelvic floor dysfunction have experienced pain and dysfunction that has been persistent for many years, and that has often been misdiagnosed and misunderstood.