The other day I was talking with a friend who suffers from chronic constipation. When she asked me for advice, I suggested pelvic floor therapy.
What is pelvic floor therapy?
Essentially, pelvic floor therapy is a treatment provided by certified physical therapists trained to treat pelvic floor dysfunction.
Is pelvic floor therapy the same as Kegel therapy?
She said she was already done, so I asked her, “Where are you going?” Then she answered: “I do them at home. I found out about this on the Internet, and now I’m doing Kegels.”
Pelvic floor therapy?
This is a great start to touching on some of the pelvic floor muscles, but what I mentioned is generally considered treatment by a physical therapist.
This often involves learning how to relax and release overly tight muscles in the pelvic floor, but like any therapy, it is customized to the individual.
Pelvic floor PT
This therapy may include stretching and strengthening muscles such as the pelvic floor, hips, lower back, and thighs.
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pelvic floor massage
This is usually hands-on or manual therapy. May include work on the vagina or rectum.
Pelvic floor dysfunction: home treatment
While it’s great to have access to a pelvic floor therapist, not everyone has insurance that covers pelvic floor injuries.
pelvic wand
When you don’t have time to go to a pelvic floor therapist and are experiencing discomfort, use a pelvic wand that reaches into the pelvic floor muscle area.
What is a pelvic wand?
Wondering what a pelvic wand is? It is a pelvic floor massage tool to relax and release the pelvic floor muscle team.
These muscles are located deep in the pelvis, and the pelvic wand is designed to make it easier to perform soft tissue massage and trigger point release on your own.
cera wand
The brand of cane I use is called Therawand and is made from a medical grade polymer blend of ABS and polycarbonate.
TMT Pelvic Wand
You can also use the TMT pelvic floor wand if you don’t have the wands listed above in stock. I have also used this cane with good results.
How to use: Pelvic wand
The video above is a video that explains how to use a pelvic floor wand at home.
How to relax your pelvic floor muscles: Online pelvic floor therapy
If you’re not interested in continuing with the wand, try online pelvic floor therapy.
My friend Lauren, who can be found on Instagram at thelaurenohayon, is a genius when it comes to pelvic floor education and rehabilitation.
Lauren says constant external rotation from yoga and Pilates tightens the pelvic floor. When I started teaching yoga over 30 years ago, we focused on external rotation.
I’ve found Lauren’s philosophy and exercises to be effective in relaxing and opening up the pelvic floor while strengthening the core.
my pelvic floor injury
Thanks to Lauren’s efforts and the hands-on treatment of a pelvic floor therapist over the years, I was able to relieve the severe scarring from my episiotomy that had caused me pain for many years.
My sons were born in the late 1990s, but I had suffered from episiotomy discomfort for the past few decades.
episiotomy pain
Oddly enough, my midwife performed an episiotomy on me during my natural birth without any medication at all.
vaginal pain
I still don’t know why, and I think it would have been better not to have it. It took a long time to heal, and I was in severe pain for months after giving birth.
For a year after my son was born, I thought it was normal to have pain when I sit, so I didn’t tell anyone about it. It was especially painful when I sat down to breastfeed.
suffering in silence
Thanks to a growing number of pelvic floor physical therapy practices, pain can now be treated in women.
And thanks to the resources Lauren has created, we now have a place to learn, collect, and discuss what was once taboo.
Pelvic floor therapy for men
Men also benefit from pelvic floor therapy because pelvic floor injuries occur in men as well.
Of course I can’t speak from personal experience, but at my clinic in Boulder, 35% of the patients are men.
What is pelvic floor dysfunction?
Pelvic floor dysfunction is often part of the following medical problems:
Pelvic pain Lower back pain Hip dysfunction Bowel problems Bladder dysfunction Functional incontinence Uterine prolapse Painful intercourse Episiotomy injury C-section scarring
pelvic floor physical therapy
I went to a clinic called Pelvic Therapy Specialists in Boulder.
They have most insurances, which I think is great. You’ll have a great experience from the moment you call.
Because pelvic floor therapy takes place in a very vulnerable area of the body, we only recommend going to a place where all of our employees are incredibly comfortable, personable, and considerate.
Find the right pelvic floor specialist
A few years ago, I went for a pelvic floor therapy procedure and the receptionist was not very nice.
Every time I called or set up an appointment over the phone, I felt crushed.
I also brought a friend to each appointment to keep me company and act as a buffer against the hostility emanating from behind the front desk.
This wasn’t a good long term arrangement and required too much effort on my part so I stopped going there even though the pelvic floor therapist was great.
Effective bedside manners
Although we have little power in this strange medical system, I do my best to avoid practices with negative gatekeepers.
When I meet a competent and pleasant person answering the phone at my doctor’s office, I always tell my doctor how much I appreciate him.
When we are sick and in pain, we don’t need mean-spirited bureaucrats to pile it on and make us suffer even more.
Do you have pelvic floor dysfunction?
If you have any of the issues listed above, it may be worth seeing a physical therapist who specializes in pelvic floor therapy.
Do you have pelvic floor problems? Let us know by leaving a comment.
This post is old, but it’s from the archives. I first shared about pelvic floor therapy in 2019.
