Pelvic Floor Physiotherapy

Pelvic floor physiotherapy (PFPT) is a specialized branch of physiotherapy involving internal and external assessment and treatment of the pelvic floor muscles.

 

Those muscles are located between the hip bones and the sacrum, and they serve as a bowl to support the pelvic organs including the bladder, colon and uterus

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You may benefit from pelvic floor physiotherapy if you have any type of pelvic floor dysfunction. Pelvic floor dysfunction can be classified into two problems: your muscles are too tight or they are too weak.

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A tight pelvic floor can contribute to urinary frequency and urgency. It can also make urination painful or incomplete and can be responsible for you waking up during the night with a need to pee.

 

It can contribute to urinary incontinence (when you just can’t make it to the washroom). A tight pelvic floor also contributes to constipation, straining during bowel movements and painful bowel movements.

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If you suffer from a tight, dysfunctional pelvic floor, you may also experience sexual dysfunction. This can present as pain with penetration, inability to have vaginal penetration, pain with or inability to orgasm, and pain with sexual stimulation.

In men, it can also present as painful erections and premature ejaculation.

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A weak pelvic floor can contribute to stress incontinence, which is the involuntary loss of urine or stool during or after activity. This includes leaking during sports, or with coughing and sneezing.

Weak pelvic floor muscles also contribute to pelvic organ prolapse, which is when one of the pelvic organs starts to shift out of place. This contributes to heaviness or bulging at the vaginal or rectal opening.

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These are conditions typically associated with women after they give birth, and as a result, most women think this is a normal turn of events and do not realize this is something that can be fixed!