Women’s Health

Hannah Guibeau
Hannah Guilbeau
Physical Therapist

Many women, and even men, suffer from issues such as incontinence, pelvic pain, pelvic organ prolapse, constipation and night time urgency and other similar conditions. Pelvic floor and Women’s health issues can be detrimental to mental, physical and social health, interfering with one’s lifestyle and enjoyment. However, you are not alone, and the good news is that you can be helped with the right physical therapy treatments.

Incontinence

Our Pelvic floor physical therapist is trained in evaluation and treatment of patients suffering from the various forms of urinary incontinence such as increased urinary frequency, leaking with coughing/sneezing, lifting, exercise or from a strong urge. These symptoms may be a result of weak or tight pelvic floor muscles, poor muscle coordination, abdominal weakness and/or poor bladder habits.

Treatments may include muscle re-education to improve coordination, strengthening for weak pelvic floor muscles, soft tissue mobilization, bladder re-training, urge suppression techniques, biofeedback and core stabilization.

Pelvic Pain

It is important to discover the root cause of pelvic pain. Our evaluations take into account the many symptoms associated with the pelvic area including abdominal pain, groin pain, pain with intercourse, difficulty with urination/defecation and bladder pain.

Pelvic pain may be a result of scar tissue from episiotomy, cesarean or hysterectomy scars, a history of poor bladder/bowel habits, spine and pelvic joint dysfunction, vulvodynia, endometriosis, coccydynia or interstitial cystitis (painful bladder syndrome).

Treatments may include pelvic floor muscle re-education for improved neuromuscular awareness, pain science education, postural education, soft tissue mobilizaiton, lumbosacral alignment, and downtraining of the pelvic floor through the use of biofeedback.

Pregnancy and Postpartum

Prior to giving birth, evaluation and education provided by our women’s health physical therapist can greatly improve birth outcomes and decrease the need for interventions such as vacuum-assisted delivery, episiotomies, or use of forceps. During this treatment session you will learn ways to assist the progression of labor, the optimal birthing position for you, and proper pushing techniques.

We can also help in the postpartum period. Pregnancy demands a tremendous amount out of a women’s body. Changes in posture, muscle strength, ligament stability and pelvic alignment, can leave lasting, painful changes such as pelvic or back pain. However, having a child doesn’t mean that you have to live with the painful changes forever, and most women can have significant improvements in their pain and function with physical therapy.

Our physical therapist will address the musculoskeletal components of antepartum and postpartum issues, including incontinence as a result of pelvic floor muscle dysfunction and prenatal joint/muscle dysfunction.

Treatment may include pelvic floor strengthening/coordination, modifications of posture and review of proper body mechanics, education of proper bowel and bladder habits, soft tissue mobilizations, restoration of inner core strength, and stretching.

We understand that these are sensitive issues and pride ourselves in providing one on one care in a private and comfortable setting.

Contact us to discover how we can help you and talk to one of our physical therapists today.