Who Can Benefit from Pelvic Health Physical Therapy?
Understanding if pelvic floor physical therapy is right for me.
Pelvic floor physical therapy is specialized physical therapy for anyone who is suffering from pelvic pain or pelvic floor dysfunction causing bladder, bowel, and sexual health problems. Every person has a pelvis and every person has a pelvic floor. This means that any person can be susceptible to pelvic floor dysfunction.
There are certain populations that are at a higher risk for pelvic floor dysfunction:
- Pregnant women
- Postpartum women especially after vaginal delivery
- People with higher BMI
- History of IBS or chronic constipation
- Diagnosis of interstitial cystitis or painful bladder syndrome
- History of painful periods
The simplest way to identify if pelvic floor physical therapy is right for you is based on symptoms you might be experiencing. Symptoms related to pelvic floor dysfunction are so common that people assume they are normal and there is no need to fix these issues. This is a very common misconception that I would like to change.
Common symptoms include:
- Leaking urine
- Painful sex
- Constipation that does not change with diet/supplements
- Provoked or unprovoked abdominal and pelvic pain unrelated to known disease or infection
- Difficulty starting stream of urine or start/stop stream
- Feeling of incomplete emptying bladder and bowels
- Bladder frequency and urgency
This is not an exhaustive list but a list of some of the most common symptoms I treat in the clinic. If you have been experiencing any of these symptoms and have not responded to traditional medicine prescribed by your doctor, I highly recommend seeking a pelvic floor physical therapy evaluation. If you have been experiencing any of these symptoms for longer than 3 months, it is absolutely time to seek an evaluation with a pelvic floor physical therapist.
To find a physical therapist near you, try one of these PT Locators:
