Private physical therapy is gaining popularity over the last few years. We all know that in recent years healthcare quality has become severely compromised. Many patients leave a healthcare experience feeling like just a number, and not getting answers to the questions they are looking for. 

Since many providers don’t have adequate time to spend with a patient, this leads to patients needing to see more providers, and spend more time at the Doctor’s just to try to get a solution to their symptoms. The physical therapy field is no different.

Back pain is very common during and after pregnancy. One of the top concerns that we as pelvic floor physical therapists see is postpartum back pain. Postpartum back pain treatment managed by a pelvic floor physical therapist is extremely effective. In order to understand what postpartum back pain treatment looks like, we first must understand why the back pain is there in the first place.

Recurrent urinary tract infections are frustrating for patients, especially when they don’t understand why they keep happening.

To answer the question of “why do I keep getting urinary tract infections” there are several things we need to investigate.

Even though back pain during pregnancy is common, it is never normal. Many times, patients are told that pregnancy aches and pains are “par for the course” without given much direction on how to relieve sever back pain during pregnancy. There are many things that can be done to relieve severe back pain during pregnancy, with the most important being pelvic floor physical therapy.

Urine leakage while running is a common concern for runners. Some studies report that to 40% of runners struggle with urinary incontinence. Many choose to just wear a pad and continue running, however we caution anyone against this as this can lead to compensations and further problems down the road. You should never leak when you run and if you experience leakage, you should stop running at the mileage point where you experience leakage. A quick solution, might be to take a small break mid-run and then try to resume running only continuing if you can do so without leakage.

One of the many symptoms of constipation is left hip pain. Left hip pain and constipation are related because of the way that the bowel runs and ends around the left hip. Since stool is heavy, when the rectum or bowels are filled with stool that is unable to pass, this puts excess weight on the pelvic floor muscles and surrounding hip muscles.

Many patient struggle with recurrent UTIs (Urinary Tract Infections). Sometimes though, patients have UTI symptoms but no UTI present with urine cultures. This can frustrate patients because they have a difficult time finding relief of their symptoms with traditional UTI remedies. So what exactly is causing this and what can you do to remedy the symptoms?

A feeling of heaviness in the pelvic area is a common concern that patients report in pelvic floor therapy. Heaviness can be the result of many things. Pelvic floor PTs aims to determine what you are describing (does it feel like a bulge, like something is there, like a soreness, or like true heaviness?). We also need to determine exactly what might be contributing to the feeling of heaviness.

One of the most common questions we get asked as pelvic floor PTs is “how to fix a prolapse without surgery”. Let’s first discuss what prolapse is.

Pelvic organ prolapse occurs when there is excess stress to the ligaments that support the organs sitting in the pelvic cavity. Prolapse, and thus the increased stress on the ligaments, can be the result of trauma from childbirth, excessive coughing, excessive heavy lifting, and inadequate pelvic floor muscle strength. Symptoms of pelvic organ prolapse typically include a bulge, feeling of vaginal heaviness, lower back pain, and possibly difficulty passing urine or stool.

Female bladder leakage is common. Research states that up to 50% of women struggle with bladder leakage. Unfortunately many women’s symptoms are often brushed off and they are told that their bladder leakage is part of aging or the result of having kids. However, there are solutions to get control of female bladder leakage.

Urinary leakage is extremely common and has been quotes to occur in as many as 50% of women. As pelvic floor physical therapists, one of the top questions we get asked is “how to stop female urine leakage”?

Female urine leakage is often more complex than one would imagine. The first part of understanding female urine leakage is understanding how your body prevents you from leaking in the first place.

Vaginal prolapse, also known as pelvic organ prolapse, occurs when one or more of the pelvic organs drop down towards the vaginal wall. Vaginal prolapse is named based on the organ that has dropped down. This includes the bladder, uterus, rectum, and/or small intestine. The degree of vaginal prolapse is based on the level of downward movement for each particular organ.

Chronic tailbone pain (also called coccydynia) is common. Tailbone pain is common during pregnancy, in people that’s daily tasks require prolonged sitting, and in patients that have excessive tightness in the pelvic floor muscles.

Since the tailbone is surrounded by muscles, namely the hip and pelvic floor muscles, a pelvic floor physical therapist is the best provider to help you with chronic tailbone pain treatment. 

Hip and pelvic pain often go hand in hand. Many times patients think that hip and pelvic pain are two isolated types of pain, as often pain will start in one area and then as it worsens begins to travel to a broader area. As pelvic floor physical therapists, we often hear our patients report hip pain that appears to start in the outer hip and then as it progresses begins to wrap around to the front of the pelvis.

Pelvic wall therapy, also known as pelvic floor therapy has gained increased popularity in recent years. Pelvic wall therapy is a specific form of physical therapy that is targeted at the pelvic wall or the pelvic floor muscles.

The pelvic floor muscles are the muscles that sit in the bottom of the pelvis. Every person, regardless of age or gender has a pelvic floor and thus can receive pelvic wall therapy.

Treatment for urinary leakage is one of the top things that pelvic health physical therapists specialize in. Urinary leakage is extremely common among women, especially after pregnancy and as we age. When it comes to successful treatment for urinary leakage, we have to figure out what exactly is causing the leakage to happen and treat or modify anything that is playing a role.

Pain with intercourse for women is extremely common and a common symptom that patients ask about include what is the sharp pain during during sex in females. Around 1 in 4 women will experience pain with intercourse at some point in their life.

In a recent Instagram story, Brittany Mahomes shared that she had a fractured back and urged everyone to take care of their pelvic floor after having babies.

From this post, many people have raised the question of: What is the pelvic floor and what does it have to do with a fractured back?

Leakage of urine happens because the pelvic floor muscles (the muscles that sit in the bottom of the pelvis) are either weak, or have too much pressure placed on them. Just you might experience pain when another muscle in our body has too much pressure placed on it, leakage is a sign that there is something in your body not doing its job.

One of the best examples of this occurs when leaking happens during exercise. Sometimes we are so focused on keeping up with the exercise class, or are focusing on what we should be doing, that we aren’t even paying attention until we notice our pants feel wet.

The two things that people try to differentiate between is “is this leakage, or discharge?”