What is Pelvic Floor Therapy
Much similar to Pelvic Floor Physiotherapy, pelvic floor therapy is the assessment and treatment of the pelvic floor, a series of muscles, ligaments and fascia that sit like a hammock at the bottom of your pelvis. They work together to support the organs of the abdomen, to stabilize the pelvis and hip joints.
The main focus is manual external therapy techniques, targeted exercise interventions that you can do at home and education. (As RMT's we must stick to treating the external musculature to adhere to the regulations of the College of Massage Therapists of Ontario)
Pelvic floor therapy can be offered to both women and men for many different reasons. New mothers with pelvic trauma or muscle weakness to high performance athletes with muscle hypertonicity or imbalance
How can this help me?
Pelvic floor therapy is recommended for a wide range of pelvic floor disorders: urinary incontinence, pelvic pain, prolapse, diastasis recti, c-section scarring and more. Although common, such disorders are seldom discussed and often assumed to be something you “just have to live with”
By using a variety of techniques, pelvic floor therapy can help to reduce or even eliminate your pelvic dysfunction and improve your quality of life.
Who Can Benefit from Pelvic Floor Therapy?
If you suffer from any of the following symptoms or have been recommended by a health care professional to seek treatment.
Urinary Incontinence – unable to control the leakage of urine (with coughing, physical activity, etc.)
Urgency – having a strong urge to urinate or defecate that isn’t easy to control
Frequency – having to urinate very frequently and disrupting your everyday routine
Diastasis recti
Constipation, straining or pain with bowel movements
Bowel issues (including constipation, straining or pain)
Unexplained pain in the low back, the pelvic region, the genital area or the rectum
Organ prolapse
Pelvic pain associated with endometriosis, interstitial cystitis and prostatitis (just to name a few)
Pre and post-pregnancy issues (including pain, leakage, bulging and scarring from C-sections, tearing or episiotomy)
What to Expect?
During your pelvic floor treatment your therapist will assess supporting structures including your low back, sacroiliac joints, hips and other surrounding musculature as they can influence your pelvic floor
1: Education/understanding your condition: Understanding your condition and how your lifestyle fits into your life is key in improving function in your pelvic floor muscles and being able to manage symptoms.
2: Hands on therapy: Hands on techniques are used to help stretch, mobilize and decrease built up tension in the pelvic floor muscles, low back, abdomen and legs (Please note all hands on treatment is external as performed by an RMT)
3: Home exercise: Coming in for treatment is half the challenge, committing to your goals and doing prescribed home exercises is key to becoming successful in achieving a normal lifestyle. These exercises will focus to strengthen, lengthen and improve the coordinance of the pelvic floor and surrounding musculature.