What is pelvic floor physical therapy?

Pelvic floor physical therapy addresses the muscles, ligaments, and structures within the pelvis that help perform bowel and bladder function, support the pelvic organs, and contribute to healthy sexual function.

Your treatment plan may consist of specialized assessment of the pelvic floor, education, biofeedback, and both manual and exercise interventions, as well as collaboration with your Physical Therapist to create a plan for home you can continue independently. Our therapists in Incline Village are also able to offer dry needling for this population. Pelvic floor Physical Therapists treat all genders for variety of diagnosis including incontinence, pelvic organ prolapse, pregnancy care, postpartum care, and rehabilitation after pelvic surgeries or cancers, including prostate cancer.

Our team of pelvic floor Physical Therapists has undergone extensive continuing education training to treat this population, and work closely with the Urology, OBGYN, and primary care physicians at Tahoe Forest to address impairments that may be related to the pelvic floor.

Pelvic floor physical therapists

Common conditions treated in pelvic floor physical therapy

The following is a list of common diagnoses treated by our team of Physical Therapists. While many diagnoses are specific to the pelvic region, we utilize a combination of our orthopedic knowledge and pelvic floor expertise to provide full-body holistic care to help our patients meet their goals.

Pelvic pain: Pelvic pain is pain within the pelvic girdle, or anywhere from the belly button down to the tailbone. Dysfunction of the pelvic floor muscles may lead to symptoms of pelvic nerve pain, and lead to radiating pain anywhere along the nerve’s pathway.

Urinary symptoms: Problems with urination can often be caused by pelvic floor dysfunction. Incontinence is the involuntary loss of urine, and may be classified as Stress Urinary Incontinence (SUI), Urinary Urge Incontinence (UUI), or Mixed Incontinence. SUI may look like leaking with coughing, sneezing, lifting, or impact activities like running and jumping, while UUI manifests as urgency and frequency, sometimes accompanied by leaking when you are unable to reach the bathroom in time. Other urinary symptoms that may be linked to the pelvic floor include pain with urination, recurring UTIs, or hesitancy with voiding.

Orthopedic pain: Pelvic floor dysfunction may also contribute to pain in the low back, hips, groin, or tailbone, since the pelvic floor muscles play an important role as part of the “core,” and has attachments on the pelvic, tailbone, and lower extremity bones. It is possible pelvic floor may be a missing component to chronic orthopedic pain!

Pelvic organ prolapse: Prolapse is when the pelvic floor muscles are unable to support the pelvic organs, leading to a descent of the organs, which may bulge into the vaginal canal in women, or present as a rectal prolapse in all genders.

GI and bowel symptoms: The pelvic floor muscles also play a role in pain-free elimination, and dysfunction may contribute to constipation, pain with straining, fecal incontinence.

Pediatrics: Pediatric pelvic floor dysfunction is common in children and can have significant consequences for the entire family. Children suffering from enuresis (bedwetting), daytime urinary urgency and frequency, pelvic pain or constipation may benefit from pelvic floor PT. Offered in Incline Village.

Pregnancy and postpartum: Pelvic floor Physical Therapy is an important component to care during pregnancy, as well as during the fourth trimester in the postpartum period. During pregnancy, our Physical Therapists can help guide you through exercise to stay active, appropriately modify activities as needed if you are experiencing pain in either the sacroiliac joint or the pubic symphysis, teach perineal massage to help prevent tearing during delivery, and work on breathing and pelvic floor strength and relaxation. After delivery, Physical Therapy assesses pelvic floor strength, any separation of the abdominal muscles (Diastasis Rectus Abdominis, or DRA), addresses any birth injuries such as tearing or episiotomy scars, prolapse, and helps you return to your activities safely to reduce risk of injury down the line to the pelvic floor muscles.

Post-Prostate cancer: Pelvic floor Physical Therapy can help individuals who have undergone prostate cancer treatment, such as radiation or chemotherapy, or surgical intervention including radical prostatectomy, to improve pelvic floor muscle strength and reduce or eliminate urinary incontinence.

Sexual dysfunction: The pelvic floor also plays a role in pain-free intercourse for all genders, and Physical Therapy can assess any impairments in the pelvic floor that can be contributing to sexual dysfunction.