Pelvic Health Physical Therapy
For many people, pelvic health physical therapy can be life-changing. Developed to address a range of issues that affect both physical and emotional wellbeing, pelvic floor therapy works to train the muscles of the pelvic floor. These muscles, along with ligaments, stretch from the pubic bone to the tailbone. They support all your pelvic organs, including the bladder and reproductive organs. They are also important for bladder and bowel control.
St. Elizabeth Healthcare has been offering pelvic health therapy since 2016 to women and men with urinary, bowel, or sexual dysfunction, treating these and other issues with non-invasive techniques to strengthen, relax, and/or retrain muscles. Our physical therapists have been specially trained in pelvic floor therapy.
What conditions does pelvic health physical therapy address?
Often, women and men with pelvic floor problems suffer in silence for years. Conditions addressed by pelvic floor therapy include:
- Bladder incontinence. Pelvic floor therapy can help you retrain the muscles that hold back the urge to empty your bladder, and also help you fully relax those muscles to improve emptying.
- Sexual dysfunction. For a variety of reasons, including a past history of sexual abuse along with physical causes like surgery, women and men experience pain that interferes with a normal sex life.
- Pelvic pain. There is a wide range of causes for pelvic pain, including nerve damage which may occur after childbirth or surgery. Pelvic pain may also result from improper hip and spine alignment, which therapists can address.
- Other issues: Pelvic floor therapy may also be used to treat prolapse, constipation; fecal incontinence; and postural issues in the pre- and postnatal periods.
- Male Pelvic Floor Conditions: pelvic pain, urinary or fecal incontinence, pre/post prostate surgery
What happens at an appointment?
An initial visit will last up to 90 minutes and include a physical assessment, a pelvic exam, and a thorough history. One of our specially trained therapists will create a treatment plan to address your individual needs.
Once a plan is created, you may come to therapy over the course of days or weeks, and you’ll also be given exercises to complete at home to enhance the effects of therapy.