Pelvic Floor Physiotherapy

Treatment tailored to your needs

Pelvic Floor Physiotherapy can be intimidating. In order to have you fully prepared for your first treatment, please read on for the details of a typical Pelvic Floor Physiotherapy Assessment. 

Here’s a general overview of how your first session will go:

• History: Just like any other Physiotherapy assessment, we’ll go through a history of your symptoms, so we know exactly what your goals are, and to guide the rest of our exam. These conversations may include topics that aren’t easy to talk about – your bowel and bladder habits and sexual health and history are of particular importance in order to get a complete picture of your pelvic health. Rest assured, we do all of our assessments in a private room, and have ample time to chat about those less comfortable topics.

• External Exam: We take a look at your posture, the health of your low back and hips, as well as the muscles around the abdomen/pelvic region. 

• Internal Exam: The muscles in your pelvic floor are just like any other in your body – they can be tight or weak, causing pain and dysfunction. Internal exams can provide us with this information, but are absolutely not necessary if you are not comfortable with this type of assessment. This is not a gynecological exam – a speculum is not used for assessment. All steps will be explained throughout the exam – typically we are assessing the strength of the pelvic floor muscles, tone/tightness, coordination of the muscles, and tenderness or soft tissue restriction. Be sure to ask any questions you may have, and be certain to tell your PT if you have any pain or discomfort with the procedure.

• Education: We will review the key findings of your assessment so that you have a good understanding of your condition. Knowing what is going on is key to feeling in control of your body. We will use pictures, models and whatever else needed to ensure your understanding.

• Homework: You didn’t expect to leave a Physiotherapy session without homework did you?? Based on our findings you will be prescribed some home exercises to help treat your condition. During your session we will have determined the strategies that allow you to best connect with your pelvic floor, and you will go home with these to practice.