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Pelvic floor physical therapy
Find a doctorPelvic floor physical therapy offers targeted, individualized treatment to reduce pelvic pain and other pelvic symptoms. At Atrium Health Floyd and Harbin Clinic, our team of highly trained, specialized pelvic floor therapists bring you high-quality, compassionate care based on the latest research.
What is pelvic floor physical therapy?
Pelvic floor physical therapy is a noninvasive treatment for the muscles and tissues in the pelvis, or hip area. Pelvic floor physical therapy can help reduce pain and relieve other uncomfortable symptoms in your pelvis and lower back.
Pelvic floor physical therapy also involves working on your back and core strength. Understanding the relationship between these areas of your body and your pelvis is crucial for improving your symptoms.
Most people have pelvic floor physical therapy once every week or two weeks, based on their needs and comfort levels. You meet with a specially trained pelvic therapist in a private room for all discussions and treatments. Your partner is welcome to attend sessions with you, if desired.
Types of treatment
Your pelvic floor physical therapist customizes your treatment plan to you. They may use one or more techniques, including:
- Behavioral therapy, which may include lifestyle recommendations or habit changes
- Education on your pelvic floor muscles and symptoms
- Exercises to relieve symptoms, retrain muscles and nerves, or strengthen your muscles
- Manual therapy, where they manipulate your muscles and tissues with hands-on approaches
- Training to help you connect with and control your pelvic floor muscles more effectively
Conditions pelvic floor physical therapy treats
Pelvic floor physical therapy may be right for people with a variety of conditions, including:
- Constipation
- Irritable bowel syndrome (IBS)
- Pelvic pain, including during sex or pain related to other diagnoses such as endometriosis or cancer
- Pre- and post-surgical pelvic pain
- Pregnancy-related pelvic problems, such as nerve pain, low back pain or diastasis recti
- Urinary incontinence
FAQs about pelvic floor physical therapy
No, pelvic pain isn’t normal, and you don’t have to live with it. It’s also not normal to have back, pelvic or tailbone pain during or after pregnancy. Pelvic floor physical therapy can help treat all these issues.
No, it’s not normal to leak urine or feces when you cough, sneeze, jump or perform any physical activity. Pelvic floor physical therapy can treat these issues.
During your initial evaluation, your pelvic health therapist asks specific questions to try to understand the cause of your symptoms. You discuss the exams they recommend and work together to select the right treatment.
Wear comfortable, loose-fitting clothing to all your therapy appointments.
Your first visit might last 60-90 minutes to make sure your therapist fully understands your needs and answers all your questions. After this evaluation, most sessions are 30-60 minutes.
An internal exam is the best way to evaluate how your pelvic muscles are working and find the root cause of your concerns. However, an internal exam isn’t required. We only perform an internal exam if you’re comfortable with it.
You and your therapist decide how often you have visits. Expect to come one to two times a week for about one to three months.
With consistent treatment and work, you should begin to see changes within about two weeks.
You should only feel light pressure during external and internal pelvic assessments. Healthy muscles shouldn’t be painful to touch. Tell your therapist immediately if you feel pain. This helps them understand your symptoms and adjust the exam accordingly.
No. Incontinence occurs for many reasons, including weakness, poor coordination, fatigue, overactive muscles and other common problems. Your therapist will give you targeted treatments for incontinence. Kegel exercises can worsen incontinence if they aren’t the right treatment for your diagnosis.
Yes. Your menstrual cycle doesn’t affect exams or treatment. However, you may wait for your appointment if you prefer. We want you to feel 100% comfortable with your experience.