Physiotherapy

When should I visit a pelvic floor specialist?

Mainly pregnant women and woman after the delivery knows about the importance of checking their pelvic floor status due to the speciality of “womens health” inside of the physiotherapy… but there are other situations in which its important to be assessed by a specialist in the pelvic floor. Both men and women can struggle with pathologies that affect the pelvic floor muscles and also both men and women can suffer the symptoms that an unbalanced pelvic floor causes. Even if we know about the speciality of “women’s health” what if I haven’t had kids.. or what if i'm a man?When should I go to the physio specialized in he pelvic floor?

Generally your doctor is going to recommend you this therapy as a part of your treatment, and just in case these are the most common situations in which you should visit a physio specialized in pelvic floor:

 

1. If you have pelvic pain:

This is a pain that appears in the pelvic area, specifically between the navel and the hips, and can cause problems such as heaviness or cramps.
The causes of this type of problem can be multiple, so it is necessary to make a diagnosis and specific treatment for the each individual. Both men and women can suffer from pelvic pain. If you have pain during miction, defecation or sexual intercourse you may also need pelvic floor rehabilitation.

2. If you have incontinence or leakage of urine:

Urinary incontinence or leakage of urine from daily activities such as laughing or coughing, is often caused by weakness of the pelvic floor. This can be caused by surgeries, impact sports or childbirth. What may initially be small amounts of urine leakage, if left untreated, can lead to chronic incontinence.

3. If you are pregnant:

The baby’s growth causes postural changes in your body to which you must adapt. To do so, you need the help of a professional who will advise you on how to do physical exercise adapted to your new needs. Besides this, a professional can help you treat problems such as pain, urinary incontinence, pelvic varicose veins… By taking care of your pelvic floor during pregnancy you will be able to facilitate delivery, avoid back pain and have a better recovery during postpartum.

4. If you are in the postpartum phase: 

After giving birth, the body must recover to its original shape, for which rehabilitation is sometimes necessary. For example, there are complications such as diastasis recti, which occurs when the abdominal muscles do not return to their original position when the belly is lost, a problem that must be evaluated by physiotherapists specialized in pelvic floor before starting physical activity. Also, giving birth causes significant changes directly to the pelvic floor, which if weak, can lead to pain, prolapse, or the above-mentioned problems such as urinary incontinence.

5. If you have sexual problems: 

Weakness and stiffness in the pelvic floor also causes sexual problems. For example, in men this weakness can cause impotence, while in women it will make sex painful. A pelvic floor specialist can also help you solve problems related to hypertonic pelvic muscles, such as vaginismus.

6. After a prostatectomy:

After an operation to treat an oncological condition in the prostate, it is necessary to do pelvic floor physiotherapy sessions. Radiation of the prostate or its surgical resection, damages all adjacent structures, including the pelvic floor muscles and the nerves and vessels that irrigate it, so that urinary incontinence and erectile dysfunction can occur. However, these problems can be solved by working the pelvic floor muscles. It will be fantastic to start with the rehabilitation program before the intervention, but it this is not possible we can work if the symptomatology appears.

If you have any question feel free to send us an email with your concern and we can advise if you need to start with the rehabilitation or if there is another way to solve your problem.

Conditions treated in our clinic:

• urinary incontinence


• overactive bladder


• urge incontinence


• childbirth preparation


• pelvic congestive syndrome


• fecal incontinence


• pelvic pain


• low back pain


• diastasis


• pudendal neuralgia


• constipation


• dyspareunia


• vaginismus


• prostatitis


• prostatectomy


• coccygeal pain or coccydynia (tailbone pain)


• symphysis pubis dysfunction