What Happens During Pelvic Floor Physical Therapy

She is an avid runner and crossfitter and has personal experience modifying these activities during pregnancy and postpartum.

What happens during pelvic floor physical therapy.

Seeing a physical therapist pt or an occupational therapist ot who is trained as a pelvic floor therapist may help you better understand your symptoms and design a personalized program to help alleviate your pelvic discomfort or pain through retraining and strengthening your muscles. But to be fair to you we are still going to use our orthopedic knowledge during the evaluation and follow up treatments. Physical and occupational therapists are engaged in this type of therapy. Most of the therapists are physical therapists and that is the assumption for this article.

Why see a pelvic floor therapist. Pelvic floor pt s are actually just your everyday orthopedic physical therapists who have taken extensive continuing education courses in order to treat your pelvic floor. Physical therapy is a practice of healing that restores function and reduces pain through the use of techniques to improve bony alignment reduce trigger points and improve muscle coordination and strength. Kristin christensen a physical therapist pt who specializes in pelvic floor disorders then brought me back to the exam room.

Emily mcelrath pt dpt mtc cidn is an orthopedic and pelvic health physical therapist with a passion for helping women achieve optimal sports performance. You will be scheduled with a pelvic floor physical therapist a physical therapist that has sought additional training beyond their doctorate in physical therapy to specifically learn more about the anatomy and function of the pelvic floor muscles and how to treat pelvic issues such as incontinence leakage pelvic organ prolapse. Pelvic floor physical therapy is a branch of physical therapy and is built upon these same principles. Many people don t know that physical therapists can treat the pelvic floor let alone what a session looks like.

We spent the first 20 minutes talking about my history. Pelvic floor physical therapy involves the pelvic floor muscle group which is responsible for a variety of functions. What is pelvic floor physical therapy. While every patient s case is unique we will always try to evaluate the pelvic floor muscle tone and function on evaluation day.

And once one does find out what a pelvic floor assessment entails many are intimidated or too embarrassed to see a pelvic health specialist. During the internal exam physical therapists are assessing muscle tone and integrity muscles too tight or weak and a gauge of the patient s pelvic floor motor control and function. Many pelvic floor conditions can be managed and healed without surgery.