The pelvic floor is the foundation of our core strength, these essential muscles are responsible for our bathroom and sexual functions as well as maintaining optimal core pressure and absorbing the force we exert from all physical activities.

Kegel's, also known as a pelvic floor contraction, are just one of the 3 essential states that these muscles need to be able to perform. Our bodies naturally contract when necessary. What we see clinically is that most people have extremely tight pelvic floors so what they actually need to be doing is learning to relax the pelvic floor and connecting with these muscles to restore a resting state.

There are several signs of Pelvic Floor Dysfunction including;
Incontinence: leaking urine or stool, or feeling like you need to go all the time.

Pelvic Pain or Pressure: sharp pain or a dull ache, a feeling of heaviness

Pelvic Floor Dysfunction: feeling like something is in your vaginal canal.

Diastasis Recti: a gap in the abdominal wall, common after pregnancy

Constipation: no having a regular bowel movement or feeling like you can't evacuate all of the stool

Pain With Intimacy

Sciatica Pain

S.I. Joint Pain

Low Back or Hip Pain

A key component of Pelvic Floor Physical Therapy is internal manual therapy. Which is internal mapping of the 3 layers of the pelvic floor, addressing adhesions and scar tissue that can be present. This therapy is performed with a gloved hand and helps eliminate the adhesions and scar tissue by restoring blood flow to these organs to ensure that the muscles can properly function.

I advocate for preventative care, I recommend all women get an assessment by the age of 21. This will allow the provider to address any issues that the body will begin to compensate for which leads to the pelvic floor dysfunction. I highly encourage anyone who to preparing for conception or who is currently pregnant get Pelvic Floor Therapy For Birth Preparation. This treatment will decrease the chances of birth injury and will teach you to connect with these muscles to decrease your push time and postpartum healing time.

Our bodies are amazing, when the pelvic floor has issues it passes off it's responsibilities to the rest of the body. This causes the forces we exert just from daily life to be absorbed by our joints. Over time that causes joint pain which leads to the need for medications, injections and ultimately surgery. Pelvic floor dysfunction also changes our core pressure which can lead to strain on our organs which can cause them to descend also known as a pelvic organ prolapse. On top of that a dysfunctional pelvic floor is typically hypertonic, or extremely tight, a tight pelvic floor can't contract when necessary leading to embarassing leaks.