Women's Pelvic Control Therapy
Pelvic floor muscle dysfunction can contribute to pelvic pain and urinary or bowel incontinence. Other symptoms include constipation/diarrhea, pelvic organ prolapse, sexual dysfunction, overactive bladder, and the separation of the muscle along the midline of the abdomen, known as diastasis recti.
Genesis Rehabilitation Services is one of the few healthcare providers in Southeastern Ohio offering pelvic control therapy. Pelvic control therapy is a specialized physical therapy that focuses on improving pelvic floor muscles through exercises or modifying behavior. Our pelvic control therapists have advanced training to offer this unique therapy.
Patients who successfully complete pelvic floor therapy often have a better quality of life because they don’t have to worry about frequent urination, can exercise without the urge to urinate and may find they can experience sexual activity without pain.
Conditions we treat
You might feel as if your incontinence symptoms and overactive bladder are a part of the aging or childbirth process. However, quietly dealing with frequent urination, pain in the abdomen, constipation or painful intercourse is not your only option. Pelvic pain and urinary incontinence are common, and these symptoms and conditions can be successfully treated with physical therapy:
- Bowel incontinence
- Pelvic organ prolapse
- Diastasis recti (abdomen muscle separation)
- Pelvic pain or pelvic pressure
- Frequent urinary tract infections
- Stress incontinence
- Frequent urination
- Urge incontinence
- Overactive bladder
- Urinary incontinence
- Pain during prenatal
- Vaginal bulging
- Pain during postpartum
Treatments and procedures
Pelvic physical therapy sessions are with a specially trained physical therapist in a private one-on-one setting.
Treatments for female incontinence and pelvic pain include manual techniques, lifestyle and behavioral modifications, and medical technology to improve pelvic floor muscle awareness and strength, bladder retraining, core strengthening exercises and electrical stimulation or other methods to reduce pain. An electrodiagnostic (EMG) technique might also be used to evaluate and record electrical activity by skeletal muscles to get biofeedback of pelvic floor muscles for strengthening and relaxation exercises.
- Bladder retraining
- Pelvic control therapy
- Electrical stimulation
- Pelvic core strengthening exercises
- Electrodiagnostic (EMG) exercises
- Pelvic floor muscle conditioning
Five conditions that benefit from pelvic physical therapy
Talk with your physician about your symptoms to see if you could benefit from pelvic control therapy. You shouldn’t have to suffer with pain or incontinence because of age or childbirth.
Urinary and stress incontinence
Urinary incontinence is the involuntary loss of urine and leaking. Stress incontinence happens when you cough, sneeze, laugh, jump or exercise. It can be helped with pelvic control therapy.
Urge incontinence
What if you need to rush to the bathroom? Urge incontinence, or overactive bladder, is a sudden and significant need to urinate resulting in urinary frequency or loss of urine control. Pelvic physical therapy can help reduce the urge to use the bathroom.
Pelvic pain
Women sometimes experience pain in the pelvic region with activities such as using a tampon, sexual intercourse, gynecological exams or prolonged sitting. This pain may be related to tight muscles in the pelvic floor that can be successfully treated with physical therapy.
Pain during prenatal/postpartum
Pregnancy and postpartum are common and natural parts of the female life span that can cause pain, weakness and pelvic floor instability. Many of the disorders during this time can be successfully treated in physical therapy to decrease pain and improve core strength and stability.
Pelvic organ prolapse
Signs of pelvic organ prolapse include the sensations of heaviness or vaginal bulging, frequent urinary tract infections or difficulty emptying the bowel or bladder. When women experience childbirth, their bodies change. With pelvic organ prolapse, the pelvic organs move down toward the vaginal opening causing symptoms of pelvic pain or pressure. These symptoms can be addressed with pelvic control therapy.
Make an appointment
Together with your physical therapist, a plan of care will be established to best treat your symptoms. For more information about female functional incontinence, physical therapy for bladder control and pelvic control therapy at Genesis, call us today.
