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Pelvic Floor Physiotherapy

BLURB ON PELVIC FLOOR PHYSIOTHERAPY HERE

Common Conditions

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1

Diastasus Rectus Abdominus 'Rectus Split'

The Rectus Abdominus is our vertical abdominal or our “six pack”. The Diastasis Rectus Abdominus is caused by a thinning of the ligament between the 2 muscles.

We commonly see patients who experience this postnatally. It is increasingly believed that !00% of women will have a DRA by 35 weeks of pregnanacy but it should resolve by 8 weeks post-delivery.

There is an increase in DRA menopausal and post-menopausal women.

It can occur in both women and men and have nothing to do with pregnancy or hormones but how we use/ train our abdominals.

Physiotherapy treatment is aimed at assessing the underlying factors and providing an individual specific programme of exercises to retrain the abdominals.

2

Pelvic Girdle Pain (PGP)

PGP describes pain in the joints that make up your pelvic girdle. It can give you a wide range or symptoms with varying severity. The pain can be in your pubic symphysis at the front and /or the sacroiliac joints at the back. The pain is often felt over the pubic bone into the groin, lower abdominals, across one side or both sides of your back and it can also go into your buttocks or your “hip bones”.

Around 1 in 5 people can experience PGP in their pregnancy.

Physiotherapy would involve assessment of the pelvis girdle, followed by specific treatment and/or advice about how to manage it.

3

Pelvic Organ Prolapse (POP)

It is thought that 1 in 3 women who have had children will have a prolapse.

A prolapse may involve the bladder, bowel, rectum or the uterus.

A prolapse maybe mild with little or no symptoms and it is not necessarily progressive. However, it maybe be moderate or severe and cause a lot of symptoms and affect your quality of life.

 The common symptoms are a feeling that something is coming down or a feeling of heaviness. It may also be associated with urinary or bowel symptoms, pain or sexual symptoms.

Physiotherapy would involve assessment of the pelvic floor, trying to identify and address underlying factors. We can then provide an individual management programme.

4

Incontinence

People can have incontinence of urine(wee), faeces(poo) or flatus(wind).

There are different types of incontinence:

Stress incontinence is leakage with coughing, sneezing and activity.

Urge incontinence is the sudden urge to go to the toilet.

Mixed incontinence is a combination of both of the above.

Physiotherapy would involve assessment of the pelvic floor to ascertain how the muscles are working; if there is weakness, overactivity, tightness in soft issue and trying to identify and address underlying factors. We can then provide an individual management programme.

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