The pelvic floor performs many crucial roles, including stabilizing the body, increasing sexual function, sphincter control, and sump pumping.
You can strengthen these muscles to eliminate pelvic organ prolapse, stop urine leakage, and improve your sexual performance. Unfortunately, complications with the pelvic floor are pretty frequent. In Canada, one in three women struggles with problems related to their pelvic floor.
Women, unlike men, are more likely than men to have pelvic floor, bladder, or bowel issues, although one in eight men also do. Fortunately, your pelvic floor therapist can effectively treat and maintain your pelvic health. By exploring the options at Pelvic Floor Physiotherapy in Barrie, you're already on your way to pelvic wellness.
The phrase "pelvic floor" refers to the group of muscles and tendons in both men and women that run from the pubic bone to the tailbone, creating a structure that resembles a mesh that connects the front to the back and one sitting bone to the other. Injury to this sensitive area can cause severe discomfort and impairment.
Women's pelvic floor support the vagina and rectum in the rear and the bladder in the front. The pelvic floor's muscles, tendons, and connective tissue keep the uterus in its rightful place on top. As a result, most specialists will emphasize these areas more in women who require postpartum rehabilitation due to some complications after birth. A man's pelvic floor helps keep his bowels, urethra, bladder, and rectum in their correct locations.
The condition known as "pelvic floor dysfunction" occurs when the group of muscles that make up the pelvic floor become weak or do not function properly.
Pelvic Floor Dysfunction
When you have pelvic muscle dysfunction, you can't contract, stretch, or coordinate the muscles in your pelvis. It can lead to:
Constipation
Frequent urination
Loss of bladder or bowel control, resulting in leaks
Incontinence (discomfort) in women during sexual activity
Men may experience erectile dysfunction if their muscles are unable to relax.
Such issues in women after labor can be so straining that they may need emergency care. Fortunately, a well-executed postpartum treatment can help manage such conditions.
What is Pelvic Floor Physiotherapy?
You're definitely on your way to pelvic wellness by exploring the options at Pelvic Floor Physiotherapy Barrie. There are many techniques that your pelvic floor physiotherapist will use to either relax or strengthen the muscles in the pelvic region. It makes you more stable and in charge of your bowel and bladder movements and improves your sexual function. The therapy employs a variety of techniques to:
improve control of the muscles of the pelvic floor
Increase awareness of the patterns of muscular contraction and relaxation
Reduce pelvic floor dysfunction-related pain and discomfort.
During treatment, a pelvic floor physiotherapist will look at the muscles through the rectum or vagina and manipulate them to make them stronger and more effective. The therapist may stretch the muscles if they are short and tight.
They may use resistance pelvic floor exercises to improve the strength of the muscles if they are weak and not working correctly. This is very common for women who need postpartum rehabilitation.
To find out what causes all of your symptoms, you get a complete evaluation that includes both subjective and objective parts. Based on the evaluation, your pelvic floor physiotherapist will make a personalized treatment plan with short-term and long-term goals.
For the subjective evaluation, your pelvic floor physiotherapist may look at the patient's medical history and ask questions about pain, control of the bladder and bowels, and sexual function.
The objective assessment will look at several general things, such as how you breathe, your posture and alignment, how you move, your general strength and fitness, your lumbar and thoracic spines, and how well your pelvic floor muscles work.
When treating pelvic floor dysfunction, your pelvic floor physiotherapist will likely use one or more of the following types of tools:
Educating the patient on the proper use of the pelvic floor
Employing visualization and pain management strategies
Stress reduction techniques
Making changes to your breathing and relaxation practices
Exercises targeting the strengthening and stretching of the pelvic floor
Manual therapy, both external and internal
Biofeedback
Acupuncture
keeping track of bowel and bladder control, water and fiber consumption, and other routines
Evaluating core strength and treating diastasis recti abdominus (DRA)
Integrating pelvic floor activity into sports and physical activities
A pelvic floor physiotherapist may also work with doctors, specialists, naturopaths, chiropractors, and massage therapists to help patients get better
Pelvic Floor Physiotherapy: When to Consult a Pelvic Physiotherapist
If you are grappling with any of the following conditions or symptoms, please consult with a pelvic physiotherapist:
Core stability and back issues
Difficulty Strengthening or relaxing pelvic floor muscles
bowel and bladder issues
Prolapses
Inability to experience sexual pleasure
Preparing for childbirth and recuperating from it (Postpartum rehabilitation)
Pre- and post-surgery rehabilitation
Obstetric Anal Sphincter Injury
These problems can happen to people of all ages, especially young athletes and women with pelvic floor problems during pregnancy and childbirth. Pelvic floor therapy has been shown to help with these problems.
Postpartum Pelvic Floor Therapy
A pelvic floor physiotherapist can be an excellent resource for a woman who needs postpartum treatment due to the physical stress of childbirth. The pelvic floor muscles may weaken after giving birth, which can cause issues like incontinence, pelvic discomfort, and sexual dysfunction.
A proper postpartum treatment plan can help teach a woman the importance of pelvic health and other related topics and help with problems like incontinence, sexual pain, and dysfunction of the pelvic floor.
Pelvic floor dysfunction, which can show up as either tight or weak pelvic muscles, can be treated through pelvic floor physiotherapy. This therapy can address various conditions, including pelvic pain, painful erections, postpartum rehabilitation, and urinary disorders. Talk to someone in the medical field to find out if this is the best thing for you to do.
When is the Best Time to Book a Pelvic Floor Appointment?
The best time to book an appointment is at the time you notice there is a problem. Unlike other muscle strains or sports injuries, which can disappear on their own, pelvic dysfunction tends to get worse over time.
It is much easier to correct a minor prolapse or mild incontinence than it is to correct a problem that has been worsening over multiple years! It’s also easier to address persistent pelvic pain or sexual dysfunction early on.
If you notice your pelvic floor is not operating to its fullest extent, it is best to book an appointment today! Check out our Locations page to schedule an appointment with a pelvic floor physiotherapist at a MyoDynamic Health clinic near you.
Natasha is a Registered Physiotherapist. She graduated from Bond University in the sunny Gold Coast, Australia with a Doctor of Physiotherapy and completed an undergraduate degree in Kinesiology from the University of Toronto.
Natasha believes in the importance of health promotion and education, along with a holistic approach to treatme... See More
