All About the Importance of Pelvic Floor Stretches for Childbirth

**Talk to your physical therapist and healthcare team about specific guidelines for you**

Are you ready for the big day? Have you thought about how you will prep for your upcoming delivery? In this article, we’ll review four pelvic floor stretches for childbirth that may be appropriate, but recommend you consult with your childbirth healthcare professional to confirm if these are right for you.

Should You Keep A Chronic Sex Diary?

Doctors tell you to track your diet and exercise to benefit your health and well-being—so why not keep tabs on sex, too?

You might type up erotica-esque graphs for your group chats after going to Sex City with your new boo. But do you ever write details about your sex life down just for you? If you have a chronic condition, you might want to.

Keeping a chronic sex diary, according to both sexuality and pain management experts, has the power to connect you to your inner-pleasure seeker, as well as help you better understand the relationship between your condition and your ability to experience pleasure.

How do you know if you have lower urinary tract symptoms and an overactive bladder?

Over ¾ of women report that they have experienced one or more Lower Urinary Tract Symptoms (LUTS)¹.  More than ½ of American women report urinary incontinence (UI), and approximately 17% of women over the age of 18 years report symptoms of overactive bladder (OAB)^{2, 3}. It is also believed that most women underreport their bladder symptoms due to embarrassment and false notions that it is a normal part of aging^{4, 5, 6}.

Lower urinary tract symptoms include incomplete bladder emptying, urine dribbling after you finish urination, persistent drip of urine after completion of urination and/or urinary incontinence.  Overactive bladder symptoms consist of urinary urgency (the need to get to a restroom quickly), with or without incontinence, urinary frequency, and frequent nighttime urination (waking more than 1x/night). These symptoms can negatively impact a woman's life. One study found that women with Lower Urinary Tract Symptoms reported several impacts on quality of life including decreased sleep, work productivity, and physical/sexual activity⁷.

I have been going to see Heather for a while now, and I can't tell you enough how much she has improved my quality of life. Heather specializes in issues like pelvic floor, but I see her for other orthopedic issues.

I have a lot of chronic joint pain and dysfunction issues (back, hips, neck) that require that have ongoing physical therapy maintenance. The effects of my problem joints/areas overlap and interconnect with each other in complex ways, so helping me requires really having a complete understanding of the entire skeletal and muscular system. Pain does not always appear where the problem actually is, the human body is a twisty, many-layered puzzle. I have an exercise program I do at home and I am very functional, but there are just something things I need a PT to help me out with.