In this blog post we will answer several common questions related to pelvic health including:
What is pelvic health physical therapy, and how is it different from regular physical therapy?
Is pelvic health only for women?
What conditions do pelvic health physical therapists treat?
What can I expect during a pelvic health appointment?
In future blogs we will discuss specific pelvic floor related disorders and what can be done to manage them.
What is Pelvic Health Physical Therapy?
Pelvic health physical therapy works directly with the muscles of the pelvic floor. These muscles are important for controlling our bowel, bladder, and sexual function. They are also important for providing stability to our hips and lower back. Physical therapists who work with the pelvic floor have had special training to be able to assess and treat these muscles. Similar to working with other muscles in the body, the physical therapist assesses the flexibility, strength, and tone of the pelvic floor muscles, and then develops a plan to treat the impairments that are found.
Is Pelvic Health Only for Women?
The short answer is “no!” Everyone has a pelvic floor; however, women tend to seek pelvic floor physical therapy more often than men. This is because of the effects that childbearing can have on the pelvic floor. Men also have specific conditions that warrant pelvic physical therapy. See below for a discussion of some of the most common pelvic floor conditions.
What Conditions Do Pelvic Floor Physical Therapists Treat?
There are many different conditions that affect the pelvic floor. Many of these issues can affect people of both genders. Some of these diagnoses include:
Stress urinary incontinence: leakage of urine when you laugh, cough, or sneeze
Urge urinary incontinence: leakage of urine when your bladder feels full and tells you that it needs to be emptied
Fecal incontinence: leakage of feces/bowel movements
Constipation: difficulty or pain passing bowel movements
Pelvic pain: pain can be caused by many different conditions; however, prostatitis is a common cause of pelvic pain in men. Similarly, endometriosis is a common cause of pelvic pain in women.
Pelvic organ prolapse: when one or more pelvic organs descends downward into the pelvic cavity
Physical therapy during pregnancy and postpartum
Physical therapy following abdominal/pelvic surgery in men and women
What Can I Expect During a Pelvic Health Appointment?
A pelvic health examination is similar to a standard physical therapy examination, but with a few notable differences. Initially, the therapist with talk with you about your symptoms and gather your medical history. Then, the therapist will perform a general orthopedic examination that assesses your posture, walking, flexibility and strength of your lower back, hips and legs. Finally, the physical therapist will assess your pelvic floor muscles directly, either vaginally or rectally. While this can be uncomfortable for some patients, it provides the therapist with important information in order to develop an effective treatment plan. Limited assessment can be done without internal palpation; however, when possible a complete internal exam is most informative. Following the examination, the therapist will develop a customized treatment plan which may include techniques performed internally (vaginally or rectally) or externally.