What is pelvic floor physiotherapy?

Pelvic floors are the muscles that provide support to women’s reproductive and urinary tracts such as bladder, uterus, and rectum, urethra, and vagina. 

These muscles are attached to your pelvis, tailbone, and sacrum that control bladder, and bowel functioning. When they dysfunction, they cause pain and other issues that affect your daily lifestyle. 

For this purpose, therapy is used to help ease the pain and its related symptoms while getting your muscles back to normal functioning which is known as Pelvic floor physiotherapy.

Why might I need this treatment? 

Many women ask the same question, why should they prefer to take physiotherapy for pelvic floor dysfunction?

You may benefit from pelvic floor physical therapy if you are suffering from pelvic floor dysfunction. It occurs when the pelvic muscles of a woman are too tight or they are too weak.

Tight pelvic floor – It contributes to urinary frequency and urgency while making the urination painful or incomplete. In such situations, you may feel a need to pee at night.

It also causes urinary incontinence, when you just can’t make it to the washroom. 

Tight pelvic floor muscles also contribute to constipation, pain, and strain in bowel movements.

There are also other physical issues that women may also experience sexual dysfunction. It includes pain with penetration, pain with or inability to orgasm, and pain with sexual stimulation.

Pelvic floor dysfunction not only occurs in women but in men as well. It occurs when the men experience painful erections and premature ejaculation.

Weak pelvic floor – It contributes to stress incontinence that is the involuntary loss of urine or stool during or after the activity such as leakage during sports, or when you cough or sneeze.

Due to this, pelvic organ prolapse can also occur. It happens when one of the pelvic organs begins to shift out of the place. This can cause heaviness or bulging at the vaginal or rectal opening. These are the conditions that occur after giving birth.

Most women think this is normal in every woman’s case and they find it easy to wear pads and diapers as a solution to it. But the good news is that it can be fixed.

Many people have cured the above-mentioned dysfunctions with physiotherapy treatment after five to seven sessions. If you are also suffering from such symptoms, then it is highly recommended to visit a physiotherapy center to cure your pelvic area.

A pelvic floor physiotherapist will recommend you to have a pre-delivery assessment. They will suggest some strengthening exercises for your pelvic floor areas. Such movements can help you achieve strong, supportive pelvic floor muscles before or during pregnancy.

These are the specially trained people to help you to strengthen or rehabilitate your pelvic floor muscles. 

What is the best exercise for pelvic pain?

Medical practitioners will always suggest Kegel exercises. They are the most appropriate type of exercise not only to preserve your pelvic floor muscles but also to avoid pain. 

You can do Kegel movements while standing, sitting, or lying down on your back is the most desirable position to cure this physical problem. You have to contract the abdominal muscles as if you are resisting the urination urges.

Do pelvic floor exercises hurt?

These exercises are not harmful as you think but you might find them as easy as relaxing. If you still get back or have stomach pain after exercising, then probably you are trying too hard on your stomach muscles. 

Also, in case, if you experience headaches, then you are tensing your chest muscles and holding your breath. You will notice the difference as time passes, therefore, you just have to relax your pelvic muscles while doing these exercises.

How long does pelvic floor therapy take?

Physical therapy treatment of myofascial pelvic pain usually takes 6-8 sessions each of one hour for a few weeks, but may require several months in the worst scenarios. 

In such cases, patients need to maintain patience during this treatment because they may also need to return for periodic therapies to keep their problems in check.

How often do you go to the pelvic floor physical therapist for your treatment?

One visit per week persistently for eight weeks is a common scenario for pelvic floor physical therapy. However, the length of treatment can vary depending on the diagnosis, severity of the dysfunction.

When should I prefer to see a pelvic floor physical therapist?

• When the bladder is full or when you feel pain during urination
• Urine leakage while coughing, sneezing, or laughing
• A strong urge to urinate but still, you are unable to empty the bladder
• Painful bowel movements or constipation
• Pain during or after the intercourse
• Pain during vaginal exams
• During prolapse, i.e. the sensation of the dropping of your pelvic organs
• Pain in the lower abdominal
• Irritable bowel syndrome or fibromyalgia

What does the treatment look like?

Every treatment is tailored as per the individual needs of a client. There are a total of two physical examinations. 

External examination – The skin, fascia, and muscles of the abdomen, lower back, and inner thighs of the patient are thoroughly checked before the therapists begin with the treatment.

Internal examination – It is not always necessary but doctors still suggest the same, because it gives a full picture of the problem you may have. It gives valuable insight to the physician to reach the best possible outcome with your treatment plan in the shortest amount of time.

A Conclusion

Unlike muscle strains or other sports injuries which can disappear on their own as time passes, pelvic dysfunction tends to get worse over time. Therefore, it is best to see a doctor as soon as you notice there is something not right with your pelvic muscles. 

It is better to book an appointment straight away with the doctor or physician. It is much easier to correct and address persistent pelvic pain or sexual dysfunction at the early stages.