The pelvic floor stands for a group of muscles, ligaments, nerves, and tendons, which support the bladder, uterus, vagina, urethra, and rectum.
It plays a major role in bladder and bowel control, erectile, and urinary function. When these muscles become too weak or tight, individuals experience urinary dysfunction, constipation, pain, and sexual dysfunctions.
Fortunately, pelvic floor therapy can be of assistance. There are numerous physical therapy centers in Jersey City, such as https://www.libertyptnj.com/womens-health/, providing pelvic floor therapy.
The information below will introduce you to this topic.
Who needs such therapy?
A large number of women stand to gain from such therapy. It’s predominantly used in women after giving birth, as the intense pressure occurring while pushing a child through the vaginal canal might stretch and tear these muscles. The role of this group of muscles is to support the bladder and uterus, which is why their overstretching or tearing leads to weakness.
Moreover, women who have been subjected to abdominal surgery are also great candidates for this therapy. Due to the cuts made during the surgery, the muscles lose their strength and flexibility. Nevertheless, with the right therapy, women can recover from a C-section, episiotomy, hysterectomy, and colorectal surgery.
Additionally, aging individuals notice signs of bladder weakness. While most of them rely on incontinence pads, pelvic floor therapy is recommended as a better solution for this issue. It not only strengthens but also lifts the muscles, thus providing bladder and uterus support.
Conditions treated
This type of physical therapy is used in the treatment of all kinds of pelvic floor dysfunction disorders, classified as hypotonic and hypertonic. The former is also known as low tone, whereas the latter stands for high-tone disorders. When muscles have a low tone, they’re looser and more relaxed than usual, causing contraction difficulties. This weakness means the bladder and uterus aren’t supported adequately, which affects the bowel movements negatively. Find out what it means to have normal bowel movements.
Furthermore, low-tone disorders include pelvic organ prolapse, stress incontinence, overactive bladder, and anal incontinence. The prolapse disorder refers to the abnormal descent of the vagina, rectum, urethra, cervix, and bladder. In contrast, stress incontinence is a term describing involuntary urine leaking in the course of activities that boost the amount of intra-abdominal pressure, such as laughing, sneezing, coughing, heavy lifting, etc.
Overactive bladder is a condition whose symptoms include urinary frequency and urgency, unintentional urine loss, and waking up more than several times during the night to urinate. Conversely, anal incontinence involves involuntary leaking of fluid, stool, and gas from the rectum.
High-tone disorders, on the other hand, occur when the muscles are more limited and tighter than usual. Such muscular tightness triggers overwhelming pain, spasms, and insertion difficulties during intercourse. These disorders include pelvic floor myofascial pain, vaginismus, vulvodynia, and dyspareunia.
Pelvic floor pain is a chronic type of pain induced by tightened muscles in this body area. Conversely, vaginismus refers to the uncontrolled muscle spasms in the vaginal area, which happen due to penetration. Dyspareunia refers to the pain women feel during sexual intercourse. In contrast, vulvodynia describes the discomfort in the vulva.
The physical therapist in charge of the treatment will perform an external and internal exam to determine the best therapy. The external exam involves an assessment of the lumbar spine, rectus abdominis, sacroiliac joints, piriformis, and iliopsoas. The internal exam is when therapists perform an assessment of the pelvic floor to check for pain, elasticity, and tenderness.
Final word
If experiencing these problems, waste no time scheduling an appointment!