Pelvic Floor Physical Therapy Treatment for Incontinence, Pelvic Pain, and More

There are several different types of urinary incontinence, stress, urge, mixed, overflow, and functional incontinence.

Ultimately no matter what type you have, there is a loss of control of the bladder and problems with leakage.

Many of the symptoms associated with any type of incontinence is caused by pelvic floor muscle weakness and dysfunction.

Pelvic floor muscle training has been found to be an excellent and reliable form of treatment for incontinence.

But it is important to remember that these exercises are not a "one size" fits all and a Pelvic Floor Physical Therapist, someone who has highly specialized training in this treatment, can help create the right plan for you.

The pelvic floor has 5 functions, to control emptying and voiding while preventing leakage, to support our organs against gravity and abdominal pressure, to provide stability to our pelvis and low back, to assist in sexual function, and to help with circulation and pumping blood back up to the heart.

Pelvic floor muscle strength is important in maintaining optimal function.

Besides urinary incontinence, pelvic floor muscle weakness can cause low back and pelvic pain, pelvic organ prolapse, difficulty with sporting activities, household chores, yardwork, and other functional activities.

Pelvic floor exercises can be initiated during pregnancy to decrease the risk of urinary incontinence during pregnancy and into the postpartum period.

Pelvic Floor Physical Therapy can identify the best way to help train your pelvic floor to ensure you don't miss out on anything else in life!

1 in 2 parous women will experience some degree of prolapse.

Some women may have a prolapse without any symptoms.

Common symptoms include low back or pelvic pain, pressure or heaviness in the pelvic region, pain with intercourse, and urinary incontinence.

Pelvic Floor Physical Therapy has been found to be an effective first line of treatment for the symptoms associated with any degree of pelvic organ prolapse.

45% of women who are pregnant and 25% of women in the postpartum period experience pelvic pain.

Chronic pelvic pain is also common in women who have not been pregnant.

This is defined as debilitation pain of the pelvic region that has lasted over one year.

Besides the pain, significant emotional stress can occur, adversely affecting your quality of life.

If this is left untreated, other dysfunctions can occur.

Highly trained Physical Therapists can work with you one on one to identify the cause of your pain and how to properly work to improve your symptoms, giving you your life back.

Painful intercourse is more common than you would think, affecting at least 20% of women.

Pain with sexual activity can cause significant stress and can negatively impact a women's mental and physical health, body image, relationships, and efforts to have a child.

While there are several causes of painful intercourse, internal pelvic floor therapy can help to identify and treat some of these causes.

Whether there are areas that are overworking or areas that are weak and not contracting, highly trained Physical Therapists can work with you through this sensitive subject.

This involuntary muscle spasm of the pelvic floor can make it nearly impossible to have sexual intercourse, have a pelvic exam, let alone insert a tampon.

Manual therapy and relaxation techniques can be performed to help relieve this spasm and allow you to get back to your life.

Painful intercourse is more common than you would think, affecting at least 20% of women. Similar to pelvic pain, except this pain is of the vulva, or the area outside of the vagina.

Pain can be provoked with even the lightest of touch.

Nearly 28% of women experience this at some point in their adult life.

80% of patients experiencing pain in this region also present with muscle hypertonicity, aka tightening of the surrounding muscles.

Treatment can include education on pain controlling and relaxation techniques, manual therapy to improve the hypertonic muscles, and muscle retraining techniques.

Vestibulodynia

Symptoms, occurrence and treatment is nearly the same as for vulvodynia.

Interstitial cystitis is a painful bladder disorder that can cause pain of your low back, abdomen, and pelvis.

In addition to pain, urination increases significantly, even up to 40-60 times a day.

This is much more commonly found in women than men.

Interstitial cystitis is found to be commonly associated with migraines, allergies, irritable bowel syndrome, fibromyalgia, and vulvar or vestibulodynia pain.

Physical Therapy can help to relieve the pain associated with this painful bladder disorder.

Whether your episiotomy scar is from natural tearing or a planned incision, the scar can become sensitive, perhaps painful, and tight.

Manual therapy techniques from specialized and highly trained pelvic floor Physical Therapists can help to relieve these symptoms, improving the mobility and overall healing of your scar.

Physical Therapy can help to relieve the pain associated with this painful bladder disorder.

Similar to episiotomy scars, no matter if your scar is from a cesarean section or other surgery, scars may become sensitive, painful, and tight.

Manual therapy can be applied appropriately to the area of the scar in order to decrease pain, improve mobility of the scar and surrounding soft tissue, and alleviate your pain.

Surgery, no matter where it is performed, can cause lingering pain. This is especially true of the pelvic region.

Physical Therapy can help to assess what could be causing the pain and how to best treat it.

Sometimes, pain related to your pregnancy is inevitable as there are so many changes happening to our body.

Common changes include increase in swelling and overall weight; changes in hormones causing ligament laxity and headaches; more pressure and stress on our organs, muscles, and joints.

The good news is that Physical Therapists, trained in working with pregnant and postpartum women, can help with a number of these things!

Pain of your low back, sacrum, and hips can come from sacroiliac joint dysfunctions.

These dysfunctions can occur during pregnancy due to the changes in our ligaments and the extra stress to our low back and pelvis.

However, this dysfunction can also occur in women who have not been pregnant.

Other common causes are from an accident or injury, abnormal movement patterns, and weakness of the core and hips.

Physical Therapy treatment can help all women experiencing pain and dysfunction of their sacroiliac joints by re-aligning the pelvis and strengthening of the muscles around the area.

This common nerve impingement can send searing pain down your entire leg.

Sciatica is commonly caused by pregnancy due to the added stress and changes in posture with the growing belly.

However, it can happen in all women, not just those who have been pregnant.

Similar to sacroiliac joint dysfunction, sciatica can occur due to an accident or injury, constant compression to the sciatic nerve, tightness of the low back and hips, and even weakness of the core and the hips.

No matter the cause, Physical Therapy can help all women experiencing sciatica symptoms.

Diastasis Recti is actually a normal change that happens to our bodies towards the end of the second and into the third trimester of pregnancy.

Our abdomens are designed to stretch to allow for a growing baby.

The trick is to know what to watch out for, what could make it worse, and how to best treat it once the baby is delivered.

Pain after a cesarean section is quite common.

As mentioned earlier, pain could be coming from the scar or from simply having surgery.

Whatever is causing the pain, Physical Therapists can provide manual therapy techniques, pain relieving tips, and appropriately prescribed exercises to help you overcome this pain.

Pain and adhesions after a hysterectomy is also quite common and is similar to dealing with other scars and surgeries of the pelvic region.

Physical Therapists can provide appropriate manual therapy and exercises while teaching you pain relieving techniques after surgery.