Pelvic Floor Physical Therapy

What is pelvic floor physical therapy?

Pelvic floor physical therapy is exactly what it sounds like: physical therapy for your pelvic region. Successful pelvic floor physical therapy should help strengthen muscles that are weakened, relaxed, overactive or tight. No matter what your symptoms are, physical therapy should provide you relief from those symptos and improve your quality of life.

Who are pelvic floor therapists?

We are a team of dedicated specialists who are passionate about helping adults overcome pelvic floor dysfunctions. Our background is in orthopedic physical therapy with specialist training for the pelvic floor. We provide a comprehensive and evidence-based approach to our treatment with the aim of addressing your specific needs and goals. We understand that pelvic floor dysfunctions can be sensitive and complex issues, which is why we take a trauma-informed approach to your care. Our goal is to provide a safe and welcoming environment where you can feel comfortable discussing your concerns.

Who do we treat?

Our pelvic floor therapists treat ALL adults, providing trauma informed care in an inclusive private treatment room. We are your resource for any questions or concerns about bladder health, bowel health, pelvic pain, and/or sexual dysfunction. We also have special training in treating pregnant individuals, high-risk pregnancies and those who require support during their postpartum recovery.

What diagnosis do we treat?

There are many diagnoses that can benefit from and be treated by a skilled pelvic floor physical therapist. If you think you would benefit from our services or have questions, please call (425) 899-1960 to discuss if you would benefit from pelvic floor physical therapy.

The following are general and broad categories of conditions we often treat:

Urinary dysfunction
Bowel dysfunction
Sexual pain and dysfunction
Pelvic pain
Pregnancy and postpartum-related concerns

What should I expect at pelvic floor physical therapy?

On your first visit, we will ask you questions about your current symptoms and what brings you in for physical therapy. Additional questions will focus on your health history, covering topics like your bladder, bowel movements, sexual health as well as current activities and hobbies. We want to know what your goals are, both for your first visit and in general for your whole treatment plan. We will work together with you to create an individualized care plan.

Your first several visits will often include quite a bit of education. This helps you better understand what you are feeling, why a healthy pelvic floor is important or how to breathe more effectively. As you start to feel more comfortable or get stronger, we will begin to incorporate exercises and activities into our sessions.

There are a few possible examinations that take place:

In a musculoskeletal examination, we are looking at your posture, your movement, the strength of your large muscle groups and assessing for muscle tightness or myofascial restrictions.
The pelvic floor examination may consist of a vaginal and/or rectal exam, depending on your anatomy and symptoms. With the pelvic exam, we are assessing for and or treating muscle strength, flexibility, relaxation ability and myofascial restrictions.

After the assessment and examination, we go over our findings and how they relate to the symptoms that brought you into therapy. We work together to create an individualized treatment plan. We provide you with a bird's eye view of how we want to approach treatment with the understanding that the plan is flexible and can be modified along the way to suit your needs. For all our patients, we work to make your therapy experience empowering and create a safe space for you.