Pelvic floor therapy in All Saints Village, MO. Pelvic floor dysfunction doesn’t just cause pain; it can impact your sense of self and independence. If pelvic floor dysfunction is keeping you from dominating on the basketball court, starting a family, or just getting through a day with the same assurance and comfort you used to, pelvic floor physical therapy may be what you need to feel like your best you again. With evidence-backed treatment plans, pelvic floor therapy in All Saints Village, MO can help you experience:
- Improved bladder and bowel control
- Reduced pain and inflammation
- Enhanced sexual performance and pleasure
- Increased confidence and well-being
Axes Physical Therapy in All Saints Village, MO specializes in designing personalized treatment plans that gets pelvic floor patients back to the pastimes they enjoy most securely and effectively. If you are curious in learning more about pelvic floor therapy or want to arrange an appointment with one of our experts, please contact us online today or contact to the Axes location nearest you. We’re here to help you reclaim command and confidence in your pelvic health.
Understanding the Pelvic Floor
The pelvic floor is the soft tissues and joints that form a supportive web-like structure at the bottom of the pelvis. It acts like a “floor” or a foundation for the organs in the pelvic region, including the bladder, uterus, urethra, and rectum. The pelvic floor protects organs and your spine from external pressure while helping manage several everyday functions.
The pelvic floor provides a number of vital functions for the body:
- Helps control your bladder and bowels by giving you authority over the contraction and release of muscles
- Supports organs in the pelvis and stops them from prolapsing
- Resists belly pressure from lifting, coughing, or other activities
- Supports healthy sexual function
- Provides sturdiness and posture to the core and back
- During pregnancy, stretches to accommodate a growing fetus and assists in childbirth
- Assists in blood and lymphatic circulation, contributing to maintain healthy tissue
Pelvic Floor Anatomy
The pelvic floor muscles extend from the tailbone at the back to the pubic bone at the front, while also connecting to the hip bones on each side. These muscles have openings or canals for the urethra (through which urine is passed), the vagina, and the anus (through which stool is passed).
Picture the pelvic floor as a woven web of muscles and tissues that creates a resilient foundation, holding the pelvic organs in place and preventing them from dropping down. It works like a supportive sling to preserve the position and function of pelvic organs.
The main muscles of the pelvic floor are called the levator ani and the coccygeus. The levator ani has three parts: one that wraps around the rectum and helps you to hold in your feces (puborectalis), one that connects the front and back bones of your pelvis and maintains the urethra and rectum (pubococcygeus), and one that connects the side and back bones of your pelvis and sustains the organs inside your lower belly (iliococcygeus). The coccygeus connects the side and back bones of your pelvis and helps to keep your pelvis stable.
The pelvic floor muscles have crucial roles. They aid in controlling the release of urine and stool by contracting and relaxing at the correct times and play a part in sexual function and pleasure by supporting the organs involved in sexual activity. When the pelvic floor is diminished or becomes too tense, it results in pelvic floor dysfunction.
Causes, Signs, and Symptoms of Pelvic Floor Dysfunction
Pelvic floor dysfunction occurs when you experience difficulty relaxing and aligning your pelvic floor muscles for ideal function.
Signs and Symptoms
- Challenges urinating or having bowel movements
- Feeling like your bowel movements are incomplete
- Leakage of urine or feces
- Often feeling the urge to use the bathroom
- Feeling like you need to push out urine or feces
- Pelvic discomfort
- Pain during sex
- Erectile dysfunction and trouble reaching orgasm
- Organ prolapse
Potential Causes
- Pregnancy and childbirth
- Pelvic surgery or trauma
- Obesity
- Aging
- Menopause
- Chronic constipation or straining
- Chronic coughing or sneezing
- Heavy lifting or high-impact exercise
- Psychological factors like stress or emotional trauma
- Nerve damage
- Surgery
Pelvic floor dysfunction doesn’t just affect people of a single certain age, gender or physical ability. While it can have a negative impact on your physical, mental, and emotional health, it’s important to remember that proven, evidence-backed treatment plans exist with professional physical therapy in All Saints Village, MO. At Axes, we offer an entire team dedicated to assisting you regain the pleasure of engaging in the things you cherish most in life.
How Physical Therapy Can Help With Pelvic Floor Dysfunction
If you are suffering from pelvic floor dysfunction, you may feel disappointed, embarrassed, or hopeless. But a diagnosis is far from a permanent condition. With pragmatic treatment plans customized for you by your All Saints Village, MO physical therapist, you can reclaim control over your life and enjoy a pain-free life.
Pelvic floor therapy involves exercises that can build strength in, improve flexibility of, or coordinate the pelvic muscles. The positive outcomes of physical therapy for pelvic floor dysfunction in All Saints Village, MO include:
- Improved pelvic floor muscle strength — Strengthening pelvic floor muscles can help improving bladder and bowel control, diminish symptoms of urinary and fecal incontinence, and offer better support for the pelvic organs.
- Improved pelvic floor muscle coordination — Enhancing coordination supports essential functioning, such as the ability to relax and contract the muscles during urination, bowel movements, and sexual activity.
- Pain management — By targeting less resilient or more rigid muscles and addressing painful spots, physical therapy can support in diminishing or eliminating the pain you endure resulting from pelvic floor dysfunction.
- Pre- and postpartum care — Pelvic floor therapy is frequently advised for expecting mothers and those who have just given birth. It can assist in readying the pelvic floor for labor, minimizing the risk of after childbirth pelvic floor dysfunction, and helping recovery from changes and trauma to the pelvic floor associated with giving birth.
- Sexual health improvement — By concentrating on specific muscles and dealing with any hidden issues, therapy can improve sexual excitement, climax, and general sexual fulfillment.
- Education and self-management — Your personalized pelvic floor therapy plan won’t just comprise monitored exercises. By offering information and instructing you in techniques you can try independently, your Axes physical therapist helps you actively participate in your own care and enables you to maintain a lifestyle that promotes pelvic floor wellness.
At Axes Physical Therapy, we have a team of experienced pelvic floor therapists in All Saints Village, MO who can support you in improving your pelvic well-being and performance. Although some instances of pelvic floor dysfunction may require operative treatment, the majority of patients in All Saints Village, MO will likely experience lasting and significant improvement through non-invasive physical therapy techniques.
What All Saints Village, MO Pelvic Floor Therapy Involves
Your first pelvic floor therapy session in All Saints Village, MO will comprise an examination of your current pelvic floor condition. The remaining sessions will emphasize implementing your tailored treatment plan.
Assessment and Evaluation
The journey of pelvic floor therapy begins with an initial assessment. In this appointment, your All Saints Village, MO physical therapist will take the time to understand you and your issues. They will ask about your medical history, lifestyle, and goals. Additionally, they will perform a physical examination and musculoskeletal assessment of your trunk and pelvis to determine your present condition. With your consent, a pre-pelvic floor therapy assessment in All Saints Village, MO may additionally include an internal examination to better evaluate the muscle strength level. Alternatively, biofeedback sensors can be utilized as an substitute to an internal examination.
The assessment and evaluation carried out by your physical therapist will assist in recognizing the potential causes of your pelvic floor dysfunction and enable the formulation of an suitable treatment plan to assist you in resuming the activities you love.
Pelvic Floor Therapy Treatments and Exercises
Upon reviewing the findings from your assessment and evaluation, your pelvic floor therapist in All Saints Village, MO will design a personalized treatment plan tailored to your needs. This plan will include precise goals, exercises, and projected outcomes to guide your therapy.
Exercises for Pelvic Floor Therapy
Improving strength and coordination is crucial for any pelvic floor therapy plan. Exercises that may be included in your physical therapy treatment plan in All Saints Village, MO include:
- Kegel exercises to relax and tighten the pelvic floor muscles
- Diaphragmatic breathing to sync your breath with your pelvic floor movement
- Flexibility exercises to increase flexibility in tight muscles
- Strengthening exercises to build up weak muscles
- Functional training to incorporate new muscle movements into routine tasks
The exercises your All Saints Village, MO physical therapist prescribes for your pelvic floor dysfunction will be different based on your particular needs, but will all be aimed at rehabilitating your body and muscles for optimal health. Depending on your present health and level of pelvic floor dysfunction, exercises may begin with you lying flat on your back and evolve to sitting and standing positions.
Manual Therapy
Manual therapy, such as instrument-assisted soft tissue mobilization, is a hands-on technique that involves your physical therapist applying pressure or working on specific areas of your pelvis. It may include trigger point therapy (releasing tight knots in your muscles), nerve mobilization (freeing up compressed nerves), joint manipulation (improving the mobility of your joints), deep tissue massage (relaxing tense muscles), or skin mobilization (lifting and rolling the skin to reduce adhesions).
Biofeedback Training
Biofeedback training utilizes a device to measure and display the activity of your pelvic floor muscles on a screen. It help you learn how to control and coordinate your pelvic floor muscles by giving you real-time feedback on how they tighten and release. This feedback helps you better understand understand how to contract and relax the muscles properly, optimizing your muscle coordination and command.
Behavioral and Lifestyle Modifications
Physical therapy isn’t just a catalog of exercises to cross off – it also provides you with entrée to professional, evidence-based insights that boost your everyday life. Your physical therapist may suggest you with:
- Alterations to your nutrition
- Liquid regulation
- Correct body alignment and lifting techniques
- Approaches for dealing with constipation
- Additional tips for a healthier daily life and way of living
Augmenting the exercises and techniques used in pelvic floor therapy with these modifications promotes enhanced pelvic floor function and general well-being.
Other pelvic floor therapy techniques may include therapeutic ultrasound, electrical stimulation, vaginal dilators, weighted cones, medications, and other alternatives.
Axes Physical Therapy’s Approach to Pelvic Floor Therapy in All Saints Village, MO
At Axes Physical Therapy, we wholeheartedly believe in offering individualized and compassionate treatment to our patients. Owned and operated by a devoted physical therapist in All Saints Village, MO, our practice puts our clients at the center and strives to obtain positive patient results. We comprehend that pelvic floor dysfunction can present as a delicate and difficult condition. That’s why we approach every patient with the highest respect, empathy, and tailored attention.
We also subscribe to the belief in offering evidence-based and comprehensive care to our patients. We make use of up-to-date research and advanced technology to guide our treatment plans and methodologies. In addition, we provide a range of other physical therapy services that can enhance your pelvic floor therapy, including:
- Orthopedic rehab
- Sports physical therapy
- Neurological physical therapy
- Geriatric physical therapy
- Pre- or post-surgery rehab
If you are interested in trying pelvic floor therapy in All Saints Village, MO at Axes Physical Therapy, we are here to help. We have several convenient physical therapy locations in the All Saints Village, MO area, all committed to realizing your optimal pelvic health.
Call Axes Physical Therapy for Your All Saints Village, MO Pelvic Floor Therapy Today
Don’t let pelvic floor dysfunction to prevent you from being your favorite version of yourself. At Axes, our committed physio and occupational therapists in All Saints Village, MO have a singular mission: returning you to the things you cherish the most. Whether pelvic floor dysfunction is preventing your playing in your favorite sport or making it difficult to get through your day, we will tailor our physical therapy treatment plan exclusively to you and your goals. Request an appointment through our website or contact the most convenient location to you to embark on your path with Axes Physical Therapy in All Saints Village, MO today.
