Womens Health Physiotherapy Townsville
Women’s Health Physiotherapy is the therapeutic treatment of all disorders affecting the Pelvis and Pelvic floor.
Women’s Health Physiotherapy near me covers health concerns from incontinence to prolapse, pelvic pain to constipation. There is growing evidence that Women’s Health Physiotherapy can alleviate, and in many cases cure these symptoms.
Most women don’t know that help is available and it can be an embarrassing topic, at TPM we have passionate professionals who will make you feel at ease with your health concerns within a welcoming and private environment.
How can Women’s Health Physiotherapy help my pelvic floor?
The pelvic floor is a very complex structure made up of a group of muscles that support the pelvic organs and form the birth canal and passages for urine and stool.
The pelvic floor muscles are often described as a hammock lifting and supporting the pelvic organs above. These muscles need to be able to contract to keep us continent, but also they must relax to allow for urination, bowel movements, child birth and sexual intercourse. Problems with the pelvic floor can occur when these muscles are too weak (hypotonic) or too tight (hypertonic). It is also possible for these muscles to combine a pattern of too much tension in some areas while too relaxed in others- very complex piece of machinery.
When the pelvic floor muscles are low-tone (hypotonic) the hammock becomes less effective at supporting the pelvic organs and symptoms such as urinary or bowel incontinence, urgency, and pelvic organ prolapse can occur. These are not a normal part of ageing and the muscles can become weak for many reasons.
A structured exercise program from a Women’s Health Physiotherapist to strengthen the pelvic floor muscles is effective in reversing the symptoms in 80% of women.
Following an assessment treatments for the symptoms of hypotonic pelvic floor muscles include:
- Pelvic floor re-training and exercises
- Provision of pelvic floor educators/muscle stimulators to improve your activation and power of your pelvic floor contraction
- Pilates based pelvic stability exercises to strengthen the abdominal muscles which play a supporting role in the strength of the pelvic floor
- Assessment and treatment of any low back/pelvic pain issues which can lead to weakness of the pelvic floor muscles
When the pelvic floor muscles are high-tone (Hypertonic) they can cause urinary frequency, urgency, hesitancy or incomplete emptying, and painful urination as the muscles are unable to relax fully to allow the passage of urine down the urethra. You may also experience constipation or pain with bowel movements, unexplained pain in your lower back, pelvic region, or genital area, pain during or after intercourse, orgasm, or sexual stimulation due to the tension in these muscles.
Following an assessment treatment for the symptoms of hypertonic pelvic floor may include:
- Internal manual therapy techniques to relax the pelvic floor muscles, including trigger point release, myofascial stretches, scar massage
- neural mobilisations
- Myo-fascial release of the connective tissue of the abdomen, hips and pelvis which support the pelvic floor
- Relaxation and breathing techniques
- Advice on toileting and positional modifications
- Provision of pelvic floor exercises and general exercise to assist in release and re-training of the pelvic muscles
- Assessment and treatment of any unresolved low back, hip or pelvic pain
- As and when suitable pelvic floor muscle strengthening can begin
If an internal examination is too painful, the connective tissue of your abdomen, thighs, groins and low back can often be very tight. The connective tissue forms the container of the muscles, and this tissue often needs to be relaxed before any internal work can be done.
Understanding how our pain systems work has been shown to be an effective way of reducing the threat of on-going pelvic floor dysfunction. Anxiety, stress, thoughts, attitudes and beliefs can perpetuate pain in the pelvis; education about persistent pain is an important part of treating pelvic floor dysfunction since the pelvic area is an area that we often hold our stress.
How can Women’s Health Physiotherapy help me during pregnancy?
Pelvic girdle pain and stress urinary incontinence are common among pregnant women. These symptoms often occur due to hormonal changes and the ever increasing weight of your baby and uterus. The mounting pressure of the uterus on your bladder gives you less room to store urine just when it’s becoming more difficult to stop the flow. You may notice that you leak urine when you sneeze or find it harder to hold your urine when you need to ‘go’. Urinary incontinence in pregnancy should not be ignored as research suggests that if you develop stress urinary incontinence during your pregnancy, or within 6 weeks following the birth of your baby, you are more likely to suffer from incontinence 5 years later.
An assessment with a Women’s Health Physiotherapist is often all you need to prevent this. Making sure that you are doing the right pelvic floor exercises; activating the correct muscles for a suitable length of time is important in maintaining a strong pelvic floor through your pregnancy and beyond.
How can Women’s Health Physiotherapy help me postnatally?
The immediate weeks after the birth of your baby is an important time for your body. Your body undergoes many changes during pregnancy and continues to change post-natally. It is important to address any issues that occur at this time so as to prevent problems later in life. Childbirth can lead to pelvic floor trauma, perineal tears and pudendal nerve injury (the nerve which supplies your bladder and pelvic floor). Consequently, the pelvic floor can become dysfunctional and you may experience urinary or bowel urgency and/or incontinence, urinary frequency, incomplete emptying, pain on urination, and pain or discomfort with sexual intercourse.
A pelvic floor assessment is important to establish the cause of these symptoms.
A Women’s Health Physiotherapist can assess you from 6 weeks post-natally or after your 6-week check up.
Following your assessment appropriate treatment can be provided which may include:
- Pelvic floor re-training and exercises
- Provision of pelvic floor educators/muscle stimulators to improve your activation and power of your pelvic floor contraction
- Internal manual therapy techniques to relax the pelvic floor muscles, including trigger point release, myo-fascial stretches, scar massage, neural mobilisations.
- Myo-fascial release of the connective tissue of the abdomen, hips and pelvis which support the pelvic floor
- Relaxation and breathing techniques
- Advice on toileting and positional modifications
- Provision of pelvic floor exercises and general exercise to assist in release and re-training of the pelvic muscles
- Provision of vaginal dilators, pelvic floor educators or muscle stimulators to assist in the release and relaxation of pelvic muscles
- Assessment and treatment of any unresolved low back, hip or pelvic pain
A Women’s Health Physiotherapist can also help with advice on returning to exercise and healing of separated abdominal muscles (Diastasis Recti). Diastasis Recti often occurs in the third trimester of pregnancy when the abdominal muscles are at their greatest stretch. The linea alba normally joins the left and right hand rectus abdominal muscles. When the linea alba is overstretched a separation can occur between the left and right sides. Diastasis recti may make it harder for you to regain your tummy tone and return to your normal exercise routine. It is important to have an assessment to determine if your muscles are stretched; “Divarification Recti” or separated “Diastasis Recti” as this will determine which exercises are suitable for you. An assessment can be carried out from 6 weeks if you had a vaginal delivery or 8 weeks if you had a C-section.
What can I expect at my first Women’s Health Physiotherapy appointment?
Your assessment and treatment will depend upon your presenting condition. We will start by taking a confidential and detailed history. Whilst these sensitive issues are often difficult to discuss, understanding the onset of your symptoms is vital in directing your treatment. Your physical assessment will most likely begin with an examination of your abdominal muscles, pelvis and lumbar spine. Following this assessment, you may be offered an internal examination. This is an important part of your examination and necessary in identifying the tone, strength and control of your pelvic floor muscles. Using finger palpation the pelvic floor muscles and connective tissue will be assessed for injury or scarring, signs of pelvic organ prolapse, muscle tone, tenderness, sensation and neural sensitivity. Following this the pelvic floor muscle will be tested for strength and endurance. It is important to determine if the left and right, superficial and deep pelvic floor muscles are working together, and if not why not. Once we establish your baseline of pelvic floor muscle control we can then develop a specific and individualised exercise programme. The assessment findings will be discussed with you and treatment will depend upon findings and your symptoms.
