What is "Pelvic Floor Physical Therapy"? How can it help you?
You may have heard the term “pelvic floor” before - but what exactly is it? WHERE is it? Well, if you don’t know about the pelvic floor, it is an extremely important part of your body, responsible for supporting the pelvic organs (bladder, uterus/vagina, prostate, rectum). Sitting at the base of your pelvis, almost like a hammock, the pelvic floor consists of 3 layers of muscles; each layer is responsible for different important actions, such as organ support, sphincter function, tailbone mobility, and overall support for the core.
You may have been told that the loss of some urine during activities (sneezing, coughing, running, lifting items, etc.) or experiencing the urge to use the bathroom often after a minor leakage (e.g. waking up multiple times during the night to use the bathroom, running to the bathroom multiple times during the day), is normal, especially with aging. Other things you may experience in or around the pelvic floor may be a “heaviness” or “bulging” feeling. You may have even been told by your doctor that these experiences are normal with them continuing on to say there may be nothing to fix your symptoms as they are “normal” OR surgery is the only option to fix the problem.
Fact: leaking urine at any point in time in your life, whether it’s from an urge or a stressor like exercising or sneezing, is not normal! Even if you are 8 or 80 years old, your body should not be leaking urine.
However, there are solutions to these problems, and many other conditions or injuries to the pelvic floor - and you can find these solutions through pelvic floor physical therapy!
What does pelvic floor physical therapy entail? At Restorative Physical Therapy, we treat the whole person! Often, we find that there are other contributing factors to pelvic symptoms including mobility restrictions in the viscera, diaphragm restrictions, or residual scar tissue from an old C-section. We combine myofasical work, mobilizations, breathing, strengthening and a variety of treatments to help you with your pelvic floor rehab. All of the physical therapists at Restorative are trained in both internal & external pelvic floor work, depending on what the patient needs to fully recover from pelvic floor dysfunction. If you have any further questions about pelvic floor rehab or other services that Restorative Physical Therapy has to offer, please give us a call!