Pelvic health can be impacted by pregnancy, abdominal/pelvic surgeries, traumatic injuries, muscle strain, and postural/hip/low back issues.
Pelvic floor physiotherapy refers to rehabilitation of those muscles which are involved in:
- bowel/bladder function
- sexual function
- stabilization of the pelvic region in men and women.
Women’s Pelvic Health concerns:
- Do you leak when you laugh, cough, sneeze, jump, run, participate in sports?
- Do you feel have bladder urgency?
- Do you experience painful sex?…tailbone pain?…painful periods?
- Do you have pain or incontinence associated with pregnancy or postpartum?
- Do you notice physical or sexual changes since menopause?
- Do you have unresolved pelvic or low back pain?
Men’s Pelvic Health concerns:
- Do you have overactive bladder?
- Do you have incontinence since prostatectomy? Are you scheduled for prostatectomy surgery?
- Do you have chronic pelvic pain?…non-bacterial prostatitis?
- Do you have genital pain?…perineal pain?…tailbone pain?
- Do you have pain with orgasm, ejaculation, or experience erectile dysfunction?
A Pelvic Floor Physiotherapist is specialized in the assessment and treatment of the pelvic floor muscles. This includes evaluating bladder and bowel habits and reeducation as needed. This specialization is becoming more established in the literature as a first-line of defense against incontinence and pelvic pain.
Orthopaedic Division Review journal Nov-Dec 2014 “Ultimately pelvic health physiotherapy applies to all people – men and women – at any stage of life, including childhood. Pelvic health professionals can effect change at any time throughout the lifespan.”