Start Feeling Better In As Few As 3 Visits.
Remember a time when you were able to go for a run, sneeze or lift without leaking? Do you now experience pain with intercourse or are experiencing decreased sexual function? Do you suffer from chronic constipation?
You don’t have to suffer in silence and accept this as your “normal”. Pelvic Floor Physiotherapy is here for you, to help you get from where you are to where you need to be.
Whether you just had a baby, recently completed surgery to remove your prostate, have reached menopausal age, or are a young adult wondering why it hurts to use a tampon – your concerns can be helped with pelvic floor physiotherapy.
A pelvic floor physiotherapist spends quality time listening to your concerns, assesses the function of your pelvic floor, and investigates where your symptoms are coming from. They will help you understand how your symptoms can be improved and create a care plan that is specific to your needs – no cookie cutter approaches here!
Recommendations of 100+ kegels a day, surgical procedures without rehab first, just accepting that ‘its normal’ or just popping a pill are all a thing of the past. Get down to fixing the real issues and start living your life the way you want.
Tell us what hurts, and we will treat your pain in the shortest time possible. Get effective treatment for your condition in less than 30 minutes so you can get back to doing what you live… pain-free.
Get a personalized care plan so you can feel better in as few as 3 visits. We use advanced therapy techniques proven to ease pain, accelerate recovery, improve mobility and overall health.
Our team of licensed physiotherapists, chiropractors, registered massage therapists are professionals and in human anatomy and biomechanics. You will get the perfect care plan to target the root of your pain so you can get back to doing what you love, everyday!
This appointment is your opportunity to tell us what hurts and discover whether physiotherapy is a good fit for you! During this session, you will talk with a physiotherapist on a phone call (or online) and create the right care plan specifically for your pain. There is no obligation, this session is only to find out if physiotherapy can help you getting back to doing the things you love in life.
If you’re like most you don’t want to wait days or weeks to get treated for your pain. And you don’t want to have to spend your time calling nearby clinics to find the one who can see you the fastest.
That’s where PainHero comes In – Canada’s largest network of physiotherapists, chiropractors, and registered massage therapists.
Our Platform is used by clinics where they post their open appointment times. So you can quickly compare availability and wait times for clinics near you without having to pick up the phone. Then book an appointment within seconds and even see someone that day if you want. So you can get back to doing the things you love faster.
Plus unlike other sites who let anyone on or just rely on google reviews. We hand pick clinics based on a 50-point inspection, which includes everything from checking reviews, ratings, reputation, history, complaints, satisfaction, trust, cost, and general excellence.
Improve the way your body moves so you can continue to do the things you love. PainHero is Canada’s largest network of physiotherapists, chiropractors, and registered massage therapists. Our mission is to make it easy for you to find the top clinics in your community. We handpick the top clinics using our 50 point inspection based on patient reviews, complaints, and patient outcomes.
Whether you’re seeking pain relief or preventative care, you can expect our patient-centric approach to be new and different from any healthcare experience you’ve had before. Perhaps even life-changing.
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There are a few risk factors that increase the risk of developing pelvic floor dysfunction. Delivering a child is one of the biggest factors.
However, simply having biological female anatomy, having experienced trauma (ie. surgery, etc), undergoing menopause, or even experiencing chronic constipation can also contribute to pelvic floor dysfunction.
33% of women experience incontinence at some point in their lives, over 50% experience prolapse, and 25% deal with pain related to sexual activity.
It is not just women who are affected by pelvic floor dysfunction. Pelvic floor dysfunction can affect anyone with a pelvic floor.
Although the statistics are more well known with the female population, men can also experience chronic pain, difficulties with urinating, sexual dysfunction, and incontinence. Furthermore, those who undergo gender confirmation surgery may need further rehabilitation to restore function to the pelvic floor.
The pelvic floor is a hammock-like set of muscles that make up the bottom part of your core. They span from the pubic bone in the front, tailbone in the back, and reach to the sit bones and even the hips. These muscles function to support the pelvic organs, the spine, and the hips. They also help with the functional control of bowel movements, urination, and sexual activities.
To find these muscles you can produce a contraction by pretending you are trying to stop the stream of urine or holding back gas.
Also, try this exercise to feel the pelvic floor muscles move with your breath:
Step 1: Move into a seated, laying on your back, or a child’s pose position.
Step 2: take a deep breath that allows your belly to expand
Step 3: notice the pelvic floor stretch, expand, and/or move down
Step 4: exhale slowly
Step 5: notice the pelvic floor muscles lift, engage and/or move up
Your diaphragm and pelvic floor work very well together. The diaphragm is dome shaped at rest. When your diaphragm contracts, it flattens, drawing air into the lungs. This also causes the pressure in the abdomen to shift downwards, therefore the pelvic floor muscles stretch to accommodate for this shift. As you breath out, the diaphragm returns to that resting dome shape and the pelvic floor muscles contract slightly to where they need to be at rest.
Check out this great post that talks more about what exactly your pelvic floor is, courtesy of Athlete’s Care:
If you have urinary leakage, painful intercourse, sexual dysfunction, or chronic low back or hip pain you already know why the pelvic floor is important. The pelvic floor functions to play a role in many different ways.
The pelvic floor can react to stress, injury, pain, childbirth etc. by having increased tension (hypertonicity), decreased tension (hypotonicity), weakness and/or poor coordination. Unfortunately, the longer these challenges continue, the higher the chance of developing pelvic organ prolapse, incontinence, and pelvic girdle pain becomes.
Pelvic floor physiotherapy can help these issues. Physiotherapy helps with improving strength and coordination, increasing pelvic floor awareness, decreasing pain and restoring function. A physiotherapist will help you reach your goals, improving your quality of life and preventing the need for surgery in the future.
Now, doesn’t that sound encouraging? Let’s explain further how pelvic floor physiotherapy can help specific conditions.
Breathing techniques for low back/hip pain courtesy of Elumena Health Clinics (Read the caption)
Glute tightness, low back pain, and hip pain courtesy of Peak Health & Performance (Read the caption)
Find out whether physiotherapy can help you get back to doing the things you love in life.
You have heard of the following conditions, but sometimes the information out there can be difficult to understand. We are here to help!
“bulge”
“heaviness”
“pressure”
“like there is a golfball in there”
Theses are all phrases we hear from our pelvic floor patients with a prolapse.
A prolapse is when the pelvic organs (rectum, uterus, and bladder) have moved downwards causing them to bulge into the vagina or sometimes all the way out of the vagina. This can be from a weakening of the supportive ligaments, weakening of the muscular supports, a weakening of the vaginal walls, or a combination.
Good news! Most patients diagnosed with a prolapse experience significant improvement in not only their prolapse symptoms but also better bowel and bladder control with pelvic floor physiotherapy.
Check out this post by Donald Physiotherapy to learn more about Pelvic Organ Prolapse:
Urinary incontinence occurs when someone leaks urine by accident. Unfortunately, this is very common in postpartum women, but did you know it doesn’t have to be normal? Typically urinary incontinence can be broken down to stress incontinence or urge incontinence.
If urine leaks when you cough, sneeze, or jump, you are experiencing stress incontinence. This occurs when there is an increase in pressure that is too much for the pelvic floor muscles to handle – therefore hindering the active closure of the urethra.
Urge incontinence is slightly different, and occurs when someone feels a sudden strong feeling to urinate but can’t make it to the bathroom in time.
Through muscle strengthening or down training, movement corrections, and behaviour modification both stress and urge incontinence can be helped!
Check out this UI infographic for more information (courtesy of SOS Physiotherapy)
Incomplete emptying, decreased muscle strength and coordination, increased pelvic floor muscle tension, digestion issues, and poor toileting habits can all contribute to fecal incontinence. If you are noticing streaks in your underwear, inability to control flatulance, or sudden urges to go number 2 but are not quite able to make it to the toilet, then a pelvic floor physiotherapist is who you need to see to help with your symptoms.
This is a medical term for pain with intercourse. This can happen with both women and men. There can be many reasons for this including endometriosis, prostatitis, and pelvic floor dysfunction. Whatever the cause, pelvic floor physiotherapists can work with you and your medical team to help restore sexual function and find strategies to help restore the ability to enjoy sexual activities without pain.
Feeling a gap on your belly that wasn’t there before pregnancy? A diastasis is a separation or a tear of the rectus abdominal muscle. Most of the time this separation is just an over-stretch of the strong connective tissue that lays between the muscle. Most DRA return to normal within 6 months to 1 year postpartum.
How do you know if your gap is too big? It depends on the function of your abdominal muscles and your symptoms. Your pelvic health physiotherapist will assess how wide the gap is, how well you can control the tension of the abdominal muscles, if there is “doming” or herniation present, and if there are any pain symptoms associated with the separation. Based on this they will provide you with exercises to improve your DRA!
Pelvic girdle pain can refer to pain not just at the pelvic floor but also at the hips and back. In fact, there is a strong connection with low back pain and having pelvic floor dysfunction. Seeing a pelvic floor physiotherapist can help you improve your pelvic floor function and significantly improve your back pain.
The Cheerful Pelvis describes in their post how pelvic floor physiotherapists can help you live well despite having pain!
Pelvic floor physiotherapy aims to improve tension, strength, coordination, and function of the pelvic floor. A physiotherapist with pelvic floor training will help you better understand your symptoms, how they relate to these muscles, and how your movement patterns and specific exercises can help restore your function.
50 years ago everyone was just told to do Kegel exercises or were slated for surgery or medications. Now, based on research, we know we can help people even more with proper evaluation, education, treatment, and an individualized plan including exercises and behaviour modification to get from where you are to where you need to be.
Just like when someone sprains an ankle and needs rehabilitation, a pelvic floor physiotherapist helps you become more aware of your pelvic floor through specific interventions and exercises to rehabilitate the muscles to do their job better.
MOOV Physiotherapy helps explain how the pelvic floor functions. If you have symptoms of pelvic floor dysfunction then pelvic floor physiotherapy is for you!
Don’t know if you will benefit from Pelvic Floor Physiotherapy? Watch this quick video to learn what a strong pelvic floor looks like (courtesy of MOOV Physiotherapy):
A pelvic floor physiotherapist is trained to assess, educate, treat, and prescribe exercises and behaviour modifications to alleviate symptoms of pelvic floor dysfunction.
An assessment starts with a thorough history of your concerns, with questions related to bowel and bladder function, birth and pregnancy history, menstrual or menopause history, prolapse symptoms, trauma history, dietary or digestion concerns, and sexual function.
A physical assessment involves looking at posture, abdominal muscle function, breathing mechanics, movement and strength of the back and hips, as well as an external and internal assessment of the pelvic floor. The internal assessment involves assessing vaginally (for those with a vagina) and rectally. Your physiotherapist will take the time to explain what to expect in the assessment and which parts of the assessments would be helpful based on your specific concerns.
Then from the assessment your pelvic floor physiotherapist will determine a plan on how to manage your condition. This may include treatment with manual therapy and modalities, exercises to help improve pelvic floor muscle awareness, tension, strength, and coordination, the recommendation of potential tools or other resources to help, and a home management plan.
Your pelvic health physiotherapist will coach you through each session and help you throughout your rehab journey to reach your goals of restoring function, returning to exercise and intimacy without pain or discomfort.
Check out the video to learn great tips for low back issues for pregnancy courtesy of Donald Physiotherapy
Check out this video to learn what are the benefits of Belly Bands for Pregnancy courtesy of Thrive Health Ptbo (Read the caption)
Simply, to get back to the life you want to live!
No one needs to suffer with their symptoms. Whether it is pain with intercourse, urinary or bowel incontinence, back or hip pain, prolapse, or other pelvic floor dysfunctions, you can experience relief.
Feeling encouraged, more aware, stronger, and confident are ways pelvic floor patients describe their experience with pelvic floor physiotherapy.
Finding a physiotherapist for the pelvic floor can be challenging. Not every physiotherapist has this training, so you want to make sure you can access the best care for you. However, no matter what, these are the top 5 things to look for in a Pelvic Floor Physiotherapist.
If all they prescribe is Kegels, which we will talk about in a bit, this is not the provider for you. Pelvic floor physiotherapists assess the whole person, including their unique symptoms, whole body muscle function and their goals. Your physiotherapist will help identify areas in your life to improve upon to help with your pelvic floor symptoms.
Have you ever felt like you were not heard, like your care provider only glanced at your issues without taking the time to listen to better understand your condition? A physiotherapist who practices using the biopsychocial approach knows that symptoms and pain are not just due to structure. They understand that stress, environment, beliefs, societal stressors, etc. can all play a part in the presentation of persistent pelvic floor symptoms. That is why they take the time to listen, understand, get to know you and how your symptoms interact with your world.
3. Orthopaedics and Exercise Foundations
Because movement is so important to how we develop and recover from pain, it is essential your physiotherapist includes movement strategies into your care plan. That is why a pelvic floor physiotherapist assesses movements beyond the pelvic floor. They want to assess balance, functional movements like squats or lifting and want to see how you walk or run. A skilled clinician will not just prescribe a “cookie cutter” approach to exercise, they will make sure that your exercises are specific to your needs and lifestyle.
4. Is Trauma-Aware
Trauma con be described as any unexpected distressing or disturbing experience. Your pelvic floor physiotherapist should be sensitive and aware that many of those who seek out pelvic floor physiotherapy have not just experienced physical trauma but mental and emotional trauma can be very involved too.
This is why a your pelvic floor physiotherapist should be taking the time to explain what the assessment and treatment involve, give space for questions and clarification, check in often with how you feel with any intervention that is provided, and offer a safe and inviting space for you to be heard.
Its normal to feel nervous before booking a pelvic floor physiotherapy appointment. A good pelvic floor physiotherapist will understand your uncertainty and be able to accommodate a first meeting phone call to help bridge the gap and help you feel more comfortable.
Look for a clinician that gives this as an option if you are feeling nervous about seeking help through pelvic floor physiotherapy.
Much of pelvic floor physiotherapy begins with simply getting in touch with these parts of your body. Most of this is internal, and the muscles are not obvious like a leg or shoulder muscle. Posture and breathing also play a large role in pelvic health physiotherapy.
Here’s a 5-step breathing process you can start using right now to begin to become more aware of, or ‘find’, your pelvic floor muscles.
Step 1
Sit down, lay down, or find a child’s pose position
Step 2
Breathe in deeply, focusing on filling your lungs full and allowing the belly to rise/expand. Notice the slight movement or relaxation of the pelvic floor.
Step 3
Breath out. As your belly returns to neutral feel your pelvic floor muscles lift or contract slightly.
Step 4
Repeat step 1-3 for a total of 10 times
Step 5
Do this 5 times per day to help you reconnect to your pelvic floor and decrease the habitual tension and stress that can occur throughout the day.
Here are five exercise (from easiest to hardest) you can start using today to strengthen your pelvic floor muscle group:
Start on your hands and knees on the floor or bed. If being in this position is too difficult then try completing seated on a chair.
Complete a deep breath in, letting your pelvic floor relax, as you curve your back. Imagine reaching your tailbone and crown of your head to the sky while your belly drops and moves towards the ground.
Then, breathe out as you gradually contract the pelvic floor all while arching your back, dropping your head down and imagine tucking your tailbone between your legs.
2. Kegels
Kegels are a very commonly prescribed exercise for pelvic floor dysfunction. A proper Kegel should be done without clenching your bum muscles or holding your breath. If you were to do Kegels while having wine night with the girls, no one should be able to notice you are doing them!
Start by taking a deep breath in to prepare and relax the pelvic floor. Lift and contract the pelvic floor on a breath out focusing mainly in the centre of the muscles. Sometimes it helps to imagine that you are picking up a blueberry with you urethra or vagina, or trying to stop the flow of urine.
These can be held for 5-10 seconds and you work towards building the endurance hold for longer times. Make sure to always relax the pelvic floor fully before doing the next contraction!
This is the olympic level for pelvic floor coordination! Quick contraction are needed for functions like being able to hold back pee during a coughing fit or being able to achieve an orgasm.
The goal is to be able to contract and relax the pelvic floor fully for 10 repetitions of 10 second holds.
For our next exercise, bridges, take a quick look at this post by Durham Pelvic Health and read the caption for more tips on how to perform them effectively:
4. Bridges
Because we don’t live our life completely still we need to bring strength and awareness to the pelvic floor with our movements. This is why starting to train pelvic floor exercises with simple hip exercises can be helpful.
Lay on your back with your knees bent and feet on the floor. Breathe in to prepare and relax the pelvic floor. Then, as you breathe out, slightly contract the lower abdomen muscles, lift the hips off of the floor, all while contracting the pelvic floor. Trying coordinating all these cues throughout the whole movement. Finally, lower the hips down to the floor on a breath in again while everything relaxes.
This will truly put your pelvic floor muscle strength to the test, especially if you have experienced incontinence or prolapse. You should not experience any pain, heaviness, pressure, or incontinence during this exercise – if you do please do not continue the exercise.
A squat is performed starting with your feet hip width apart. Breathe in, let your hips start to hinge or move back and down towards the ground (like sitting back into a chair), then bend the knees allowing the knees to track in line with the toes. Then, once at the lowest comfortable position in your squat, breathe out as you contract the pelvic floor, straightening both the hips and knees at the same time.
Up for a challenge? Adding weight to this movement can further strengthen not just your legs and hips but your core and pelvic floor as well.
Watch this IG Reel from Strive Health and Performance and try the Squat Mobility Exercise:
Postpartum running checklist courtesy of Fusion Physiotherapy & Wellness Centre
Though there are certain pelvic floor disorders unique to men and women, the amazing thing is that the basic exercises for both are the same. See below where @the.cheerful.pelvis explains male specific Kegels ‘cuing’ to help train those pelvic floor muscles.
The same five exercises listed above for women work just as well for men too.
If you’ve had a prostatectomy and are now suffering incontinence, or if you have erectile dysfunction, pelvic pain, chronic constipation, or frequent urination at night, you probably have a pelvic floor problem.
Try to make yourself a plan to do the five exercises listed above for a couple months and see if you notice any improvements. If it doesn’t seem to resolve the problem, look for a pelvic floor physiotherapist using the 5 criteria listed earlier.
Checkout this post from The Cheerful Pelvis
Hip mobility exercises courtesy of Human Integrated Performance
While pelvic floor therapy generally does not require nudity, some people may feel more comfortable being nude during this type of therapy. Ultimately, the decision of whether or not to be nude during pelvic floor therapy is a personal one.
Easy pelvic floor exercises that take less than 10 minutes a day
Yes, it is that easy. This exercise can be helpful for a variety of conditions! Pain, prolapse, surgery, post-partum, etc.
Sit, lay down, or pick your favorite yoga pose (child’s pose is a favorite!).
Take a deep breath through your nose, letting your belly expand and feel the pelvic floor muscles relax.
Then, exhale. Through your nose, and feel a “lift” of your pelvic floor.
Having troubles feeling those pelvic muscles? Sitting on an exercise ball with your knees out wide can give you a bit of pressure to feel those pelvic floor muscles contract and relax with your breath.
This is a great exercise to get your hip, core, breath and pelvic floor all working in harmony. A more challenging one than deep breathing but it is a favorite for prolapse or postpartum patients.
Lay on your back, knees bent and feet flat on the floor.
Take a deep breath in. Then, as you breathe out lift your hips off of the floor and contract your pelvic floor. Keep your knees steady and parallel with each other through the whole movement.
A shake-up to the basic kegel because we don’t need to live our day with a maximum pelvic floor contraction for all activities. Here is how you do it:
Deep breath in.
Breathe out and contract your pelvic floor muscles 30% – or “first floor” if you will.
Completely relax the pelvic floor with the next breath in.
Repeat but contract to the “second floor” – approximately 60% of your maximum.
Finally – make your way to the top floor with a full kegel for the final repetition.
A very functional movement you already do multiple times a day. Now all you have to do is bring your awareness to your breath and your pelvic floor muscles.
Start in a seated position.
With a breath out, stand up from your chair.
Breathe in as you lower your hips, then your knees gracefully back to your chair.
Now, time to dial in to the tension of those pelvic floor muscles with a relaxing yet challenging pose.
Lay on your back and grab the back of your legs bringing your thighs to your belly.
Bonus points for combining the first exercise with this one!
Take it to the next level by grabbing onto your feet or for the yogis out there – use your peace fingers to grab onto your big toes.
Pelvic floor muscles don’t have to be stretched to have difficulties doing their job. Sometimes those muscles are just working too hard for too long, making them easily tired when they need to work…
Yes, walking can help strengthen the pelvic floor. However it’s more effective to do pelvic floor exercises for the root cause of your pelvic floor dysfunction.
With a good treatment plan it can take 4-6 weeks to see noticeable improvement.
Most of the time tailbone pain is treated successfully and does not require surgery.
It depends! If you have tight muscles that have a difficult time relaxing then Kegels are NOT the exercise for you. If you have more of a weakness or poor coordination issue then Kegels (when done properly) can be very helpful.
It sure can! Painful intercourse can stem from a number of issues. Vaginal dryness, tense pelvic floor muscles, scar tension, nerve entrapment and chronic conditions like endometriosis, etc. can all contribute to painful intercourse. A pelvic floor physiotherapist will ensure to evaluate the best strategies and intervention for your specific concerns.
No, you don’t and there are tons of techniques that can be used to help you externally. There are lots of things to work on without doing a hands-on assessment. However, having an internal exam from a trained pelvic floor physiotherapist will provide the most information about your specific pelvic floor issue allowing a more complete understanding to move forward with a treatment plan. If you have concerns, discuss them with your pelvic health physiotherapist and they will work with you to be sure to plan the assessment and interventions best suited for your needs.
Pelvic Floor Physiotherapy is one of several possible methods for relieving pain that do not rely on prescription medications and all the side effects and baggage they come with. Not to mention that most drugs can only mask pain, but rarely address root causes. Find a clinic if you are suffering from muscle tightness, soreness, or pain to improve your quality of life, today.
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