Pelvic Floor Assessment: $158 | Pelvic Floor Treatment: $105
Women’s Health and Pelvic Floor Rehabilitation involves the assessment and treatment of the pelvic floor muscle group which is responsible for a variety of functions. The pelvic floor muscles act like a hammock or sling and support the bladder, uterus, prostate and rectum. These muscles must be able to both contract and maintain continence and relax to allow for urination and bowel movements. Weakened pelvic floor muscles can result in urinary incontinence, whereas muscles that are too tight can result in pelvic pain and a sense of bowel or bladder urgency and increased frequency.
It is estimated that 1 in 3 women will suffer from some type of pelvic floor dysfunction in their lifetime. Contrary to popular belief, urinary incontinence and pelvic pain is not a normal symptom of aging. Men can also benefit from pelvic floor rehabilitation for certain conditions.
Here is a list of conditions that can benefit from pelvic floor rehabilitation:
- Urinary Incontinence in Females and Males
- Post Partum Pelvic Complications
- Organ Prolapse
- Pelvic Pain
- Painful Intercourse
- Post Prostate surgical Complications
Pre/Post Natal Mamas
There are so many changes that a pregnant woman’s body goes through during fetal development. These can include stretching of the abdominal wall, greater pressure on the bladder, urethra and pelvic floor, postural changes and hormonal changes. Although necessary, these changes can often lead to back pain, tailbone pain, pelvic pain and urinary incontinence as well as painful sex and transitional pain such as rolling over, taking the stairs and sit to stand.
Often we can be given mis-information during a pregnancy and distinguishing fact from fiction can be challenging. Although a lot of the symptoms are common, they are not considered normal and women should not feel like they need to suffer in silence. You may be surprised at what should not be considered normal during or after your pregnancy.
Here is a list of what you should not be experiencing during or after your pregnancy:
- No leaking urine, gas or stool when you laugh, cough, sneeze, jump or run.
- No ongoing pelvic or back pain
- No feeling of pressure or heaviness in your vagina or rectum
- No experience of pain during intercourse.
How can physiotherapy help?
A physiotherapist will assess those experiencing pelvic girdle or low back pain, pubic symphysis dysfunction, diastasis rectus abdominis, incontinence and core weakness. Pre and post-natal pelvic floor muscle training is effective in decreasing pain and urinary incontinence. Physiotherapy will include treatment and education for women on how to perform exercises safely and effectively both pre and post natally, as well as strategies and tools to use during the birth process to protect the pelvic floor. Post-natal concerns including pain management, scar tissue management and return to activity are all areas that can be addressed by your PT.
Pelvic Floor Dysfunction – Female and Male
Your pelvic floor is a group of muscles found in the floor (the base) of your pelvis (the bottom of your torso). The pelvis houses organs such as the bladder, uterus in women and prostate in men, and the rectum. The pelvic floor muscles support all of these structures and play a very important role in elimination (bowel and bladder), sexual function, pregnancy and
Pelvic floor dysfunction is a common condition where you’re unable to correctly relax and/or contract and coordinate the muscles in your pelvic floor. Some reasons that this may occur include:
- Traumatic injuries to the pelvic area.
- Pregnancy and delivery
- Overusing the pelvic muscles (like going to the bathroom too often or pushing too hard), eventually leading to poor muscle coordination.
- Pelvic surgery.
- Being overweight.
- Advancing age.
- Poor body mechanics and core weakness
Both men and women may experience symptoms including incontinence (leaking) of bowel or bladder, dyspareunia (painful sex), pelvic pain (including penile, scrotum, perineal or rectal pain for men), pain with bowel or bladder function, constipation, frequent or infrequent urination or a feeling that you need to force bladder or bowel elimination, low back pain with no other known cause and men may experience erectile dysfunction due to pelvic floor dysfunction. Prostate issues in men may contribute to pelvic floor dysfunction so it is important that both you and your therapist ensure that there has been follow up with your family physician regarding any prostate concerns. Women may experience pelvic organ prolapse where the bladder, rectum or uterus are no longer held in place due to weakened muscles and may fall lower into the pelvis and in some cases, may exit the vulva and need to be pushed back inside.
A pelvic floor trained physiotherapist can assess and treat the above symptoms and other painful pelvic conditions such as overactive bladder, interstitial cystitis, endometriosis, tail bone pain, and SI joint pain. Your physiotherapist will look at all of the contributors to your pelvic pain such as tissue based drivers and nervous system based drivers. Education, postural and alignment retraining, specific stretching and strengthening programs, nervous system retraining and behavioural and biomechanical strategies will be addressed to help you on your road to recovery.