The Basics
What is Pelvic Floor Physical Therapy?
Pelvic floor physical therapy is a specialty within physical therapy focusing on the rehabilitation of muscles in the pelvic floor after injury or dysfunction. Your pelvic floor muscles are a part of muscular hammock at the bottom of your pelvic bowl that your pelvic organs rest upon. In addition to the muscles, the 3-layered pelvic floor also contains blood vessels, fatty tissue, ligaments, tendons, nerves and fascia - all of which can play significant roles in your pelvic health. Pelvic dysfunction is common in men, women and children alike.
Pelvic floor physical therapists are movement specialists that are able to treat the musculoskeletal and neuromuscular aspects of pelvic floor dysfunctions, while assessing the whole body as it relates to the pelvic floor.
What are the common symptoms of pelvic dysfunction?
Urinary leakages on coughing, sneezing, lifting or with urgency, increased urinary frequency, constipation, fecal incontinence, pain with sexual intercourse, pelvic pain ( pain in SI joint, tailbone, symphysis pubis, lower abdomen, low back, genital areas) – are some of the most common presentations of pelvic floor dysfunction. In children it may present as bedwetting, poop accidents, constipation and abdominal pain.
These issues are common, but never normal. These are also issues that are not openly discussed. If you are experiencing any of these symptoms, you deserve to know that they can helped and addressed by pelvic floor physical therapy.
