Pelvic pain – more common than you’d think
Imagine you are out to dinner or grabbing a coffee with a couple of your girlfriends. Odds are that one of you has experienced chronic pelvic pain at some point during your lives and it’s also likely that you have no idea which one of you it is. Studies estimate up to a third of women experience chronic pelvic pain, and up to a third of those women have pain that causes them to miss work. These statistics can be surprising because the pelvic area is not often discussed in social situations. It’s normal to hear someone say “I have a terrible headache today” but it would be a bit taboo to say “My pelvic pain is really bothering me today.”
Why I decided to get trained in pelvic floor therapy
When I see patients that experience pelvic pain, I often don’t know it’s a concern until it’s time for their annual women’s exam. Seeing this happen repeatedly made me realize there is something we’re missing… women don’t need to live this way! When I would suggest seeing another provider, like a pelvic floor physical therapist, to address their pain, many women were hesitant. They didn’t want to share their story again or work up the courage to trust another provider to see, examine, and treat such a sensitive area of their body. This is why I decided to get trained in pelvic floor therapy.
What is pelvic floor therapy?
Pelvic floor therapy is an in-office, hands-on treatment for the muscles, ligaments, and tendons of the pelvic floor. Pelvic floor therapy is well known in the post-partum community for treatment of diastasis recti (abdomen muscle separation) and for patients that are experiencing a uterine, bladder or rectal prolapse but is not frequently talked about as a possible treatment for other symptoms that can be caused by muscles in the pelvic floor that are too weak or too tense.
Pelvic floor symptoms
Symptoms of weak or tense pelvic floor muscles could include constipation, urinary frequency, pain with urination or passing bowel movements, pain with intercourse, pelvic pain and more.
Physician assessment, hands on treatment and other therapeutic options
Although this type of therapy is typically performed by physical therapists, being a physician who does this type of work makes me uniquely able to add on an assessment of the pelvic floor muscles to your annual well woman exam and incorporate additional treatment strategies for a well-rounded approach to your concerns. I get to combine soft tissue work and muscular retraining techniques for the pelvic floor muscles that are typically used in pelvic floor therapy with the rest of my tools like nutritional counseling, herbal medicine, pharmaceutical medications, stress management, and acupuncture.
If you think you could benefit from pelvic floor therapy, schedule an appointment or free 15-minute consultation with Dr. Amanda Grischow at Boise Natural Health Clinic!