Conditions

DO YOU SUFFER FROM:

  • Urinary frequency, urgency, hesitancy, stopping and starting of the urine stream, painful urination, or incomplete emptying
  • Heaviness, buldging or pressure in the pelvic region
  • Constipation, straining, pain during or after bowel movements
  • Unexplained pain in your low back, pelvic region, hips, genital area, tailbone or rectum
  • Urinary leakage
  • Pain during or after sexual intercourse, orgasm, or sexual stimulation
  • Fecal incontinence (bowel leakage)
  • Uncoordinated muscle contractions causing the pelvic floor muscles to spasm
  • Unresolved low back and hip problems

IF YOU HAVE ANSWERED YES TO ANY OF THE ABOVE,
YOU ARE A CANDIDATE FOR PELVIC FLOOR PHYSIO.

CAUSES OF Pelvic Floor Dysfunctions

  • Weak/Low tone pelvic floor muscles: can contributes to urinary and fecal incontinence, as well as pelvic organ prolapse.

  • Tight/High tone pelvic floor muscles: can contributes to urgency/frequency and pelvic pain.

ARE YOU AT RISK?

  • Female (85% of UI occurs in women)
  • Female Athlete (adolescents)
  • Post menopausal (hormone changes)
  • Over 40 (1 in 3 suffer from PFDs)
  • Pregnancy and Birth
  • Multiparous: having had more than one child
  • Obstetric trauma (forceps, suction, tearing)
  • Gynaecological or urinary surgery
  • Chronic Illness
  • Medication
  • Smoking
  • Obesity
  • Chronic straining

WHAT IS PELVIC FLOOR PHYSIO?

  • Specialized physiotherapists assess and examine the integrity of the pelvic floor muscles, joints, nerves, and connective tissue both internally and externally.
  • Education provides the patient with awareness and understanding of all the components that influence the pelvic floor.
  • Specific Home exercises and self-care are important parts of the treatment plan.
  • Medications can sometimes be helpful.
  • Persistent Pain Education is an important part of treating PFDs.

DIAGNOSING PFDs

PFDs are diagnosed by specially trained doctors and physiotherapists by using internal and external hands-on or manual techniques to evaluate the function of the pelvic floor muscles. Your ability to effectively contract and relax the pelvic floor muscles along with those that directly influencing the pelvic floor will provide a global picture of where the problems are stemming from and factors contributing to the PFD.

IS THEIR AN INTERNAL EXAM?

  • Assessing the pelvic floor without doing an internal exam is like an orthopaedic surgeon or a physiotherapist doing a knee exam through a pair of jeans. Treating any other part of the body without touching the affected body part to see which muscles are tight, or weak, and how the joints move and glide would be completely unacceptable.
  • If an internal examination is too painful, the connective tissue that surrounds the pelvis, hips, low back and core is often too tight and needs to be relaxed before any internal work can be done.
  • If the patient is not prepared to do an internal examination at the time of the assessment there are several external factors that need to be addressed, therefore an internal exam can be put off until the patient feels ready and comfortable.